As the province of British Columbia and its school boards continue to tweak plans for the return to school after Labour Day, the BC Liberals are calling for immediate reforms to the plan.
Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok says that his office has been hearing from parents, who have a lot of questions, and a great deal of anxiety about the way the plan is rolling out.
“There’s such confusion,” he said. “Do they wear masks? Or don’t they? Do they just wear them in the hallway? How do you social distance a six or seven year old?
“This government has had five months to figure this out. What have they been doing?”
Clovechok says that downloading the majority of decision making onto school boards is wrong.
“You can’t just say to school boards, figure it out — there should be a comprehensive plan.”
BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson and MLA Dan Davies, BC Liberal Education Critic, sent a letter to NDP Education Minister Rob Fleming this week calling for immediate action in four key areas:
• Establish a viable province-wide framework that will ensure school districts can safely implement both in-class and distance learning options, and offer the same level of learning standards and opportunity for students and teachers no matter where they live, ensuring reasonable choices for parents during the pandemic.
• Implement measures that will promote greater distance learning programs and options for children in multi-generational and immune-compromised households, including restoring the $12 million in funding removed from Independent Distributed Learning (IDL) programs.
• Ensure that every child who requires an electronic device for learning can be provided with access to a laptop, tablet, or electronic device.
• Ensure that the government’s plan does not fail children with diverse learning needs by creating a greater disparity between the quality and availability of learning delivery models and resources.
“The level of confidence out there about the return to school is not high,” said Clovechok, who recently co-hosted a townhall meeting where he heard from parents and teachers.
He says there has been a rush to reopen schools at the regular time without providing parents and grandparents enough information to understand exactly what is going to happen.
“Yes, it’s easy to criticize. Other province are also struggling with the return to school, but the most cherished thing to protect are our kids, and our seniors. Kids can bring the virus home to their grandparents. I don’t thing the government’s plan has gone far enough in how to prevent that from happening.
“What happens if there’s a spike of six or seven students or staff testing positive? Do we shut that school down? No one has answers.”
Clovechok says that he thinks the hybrid of online and in class instruction that was in place last June might be the best option, rather than a full return.
“Look around the world where schools have reopened and see what is happening. My office is hearing lots of concern from parents. They are angry about not having answers to their questions. But they’re also scared.”
