You asked…

14 months since our first school closure in March 2020, my government has finally asked for my opinion about the matter. Here it is.

Dear Mr. Ford,

Thank-you for your recent letter inviting responses to your questions regarding school re-opening in Ontario.  

I am an elementary educator and have seen firsthand the effects of crowded classrooms, inadequate facilities, understaffed buildings and under-funded programs.  Many of these issues predate COVID-19, and their effects have only multiplied under the additional stresses of pandemic conditions.  As teachers we have tried our best under difficult circumstances to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for our students — and we have tried in vain.

I teach in a portable with 28 students.  The desks are so close together that I have to walk sideways to pass between them.  In what other situation would such an environment be considered safe for anyone? I teach in a school of 400 with only two small washrooms.  Most of the classrooms don’t have sinks, and those we do have are unusable because of mould issues.  In what other situation would such facilities be considered hygienic?  We have footsteps painted on our floors and walkways indicating a distance of two metres — and four children lined up in between each one, because a line-up of properly-distanced children would send us around the block.  The masks, the children’s sole remaining layer of protection, come off twice a day while students sit side by side eating their lunches.  How many restaurants are allowed to function right now under similar circumstances?

Like many others, I am eager for the resumption of normal school life.  But I would like the steps towards reopening to be in line with those being taken in other sectors.  If, on June 14, it will be considered safe to open essential retail at 25% capacity, I will gladly return to a school at 25% capacity.  If outdoor dining and fitness classes are limited to groups of 10, then I will gladly take half a class outside to eat their lunches and play some games while the rest of the school waits its turn on the sidewalk.

After 21 days, if adult vaccination rates permit, I will gladly increase my outdoor class sizes to 25, and allow 5 children at a time to come inside (or more accurately, 4, if I count as a person as well).  And then, another 21 days later, vaccination rates permitting, I will cautiously open the door a little wider still.  By August, it might be safe to congregate again.

But not by Monday.

Schools are not somehow immune to the variants that are threatening the health and safety of Ontarians in every other sector.  If it is not safe for others to congregate indoors right now, then it is not safe for me, and it is not safe for my students.

Is the reopening of schools for in person learning safe for students?  

NO.

Is the reopening of schools for in person learning safe for teachers and all education staff? 

NO.

There are a growing number of cases in Ontario of the variant first identified in India (B.1.617). Does this mutation pose an increased risk to students and education workers? 

YES.

The modelling from the Ontario Science Table has suggested that reopening schools will lead to an increase in cases in the province of Ontario, is this acceptable and safe? 

NO.

Other countries are warning mutations including the B.1.617 variant are putting children at much greater risk and are shutting schools down. Is this concern not shared by medical experts in Ontario? 

I WOULD HOPE SO.

Should teachers be fully vaccinated before resuming in-class lessons and if not, is one dose sufficient? 

One dose is better than none, but it is not sufficient.  Not with hundreds of unvaccinated children breathing alongside us.

Under Ontario’s reopening plan, indoor gatherings won’t commence until July. Should indoor school instruction resume before then? 

NO.

Please, Mr. Ford, follow your own implicit advice, and open the schools only when it can be done with the same minimum health and safety requirements that are in place for every other workplace or venue in the province.

Sincerely,

Natasha Regehr