Dear Chilliwack Secondary School, Chilliwack Middle School and School District 33:
My wife and I live in a second floor apartment at Wayside Plaza directly across Yale Road from The Portal and 7-Eleven. Since schools started early last month, we have many times observed students clustering maskless outside 7-Eleven and Subway, and entering in groups. We see them hugging, laughing, yelling, sharing drinks, etc. and acting in clear defiance of universally known rules for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Portal patrons and related street people and hard drug users also frequent 7-Eleven and Wayside Plaza and also wilfully violate pandemic guidelines, which exacerbates risk to your student charges. Parents within the school district should be made aware that school-aged children are sharing space with high-risk Portal patrons and others in the vicinity of Williams and Yale, during the day, into evening hours and over weekends.
In accordance with the terms of the Portal’s Good Neighbour Agreement and promises to the community, Griffin Security is supposed to be “on site one hour twice/day during prime school commute times.” This measure has evidently been dropped out during the current school year.
We now see that a case has been confirmed among CSS students.
• READ MORE: Confirmed COVID-19 case at Chilliwack Secondary School
It seems to us that the schools or the school district should assign someone to patrol these hotspots during lunch or post-class times when students gather, and do what is reasonable to enforce the known guidelines.
Gerry Armstrong
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