Huntsville Doppler
The month of August, to me, has always been a sign that the end of summer is in sight, even though technically it is less than half over. Of course, this year, there will be no Canadian National Exhibition which normally starts in mid-August and signals to many around these parts that the fall season is at hand.
In many ways, that means new beginnings, most especially this year when the COVID-19 pandemic has changed so much of what we can do and how we must do it. This will never be more evident or, likely, more controversial than the reopening of schools.
Last week, the Government of Ontario revealed its plan to reopen public schools in Ontario in September. It is not a perfect plan. It really cannot be. While there has been real progress in containing the pandemic, no one can know for sure how it is going to play out in the months or even years ahead. By definition, then, the plan is risky. But is it also necessary?
The Provincial Government has taken the position that school reopening is critical to learning and development for Ontario students and an important support for families to get back to work and foster the reopening of the economy. I agree with that.
The Ontario plan calls for students from kindergarten to grade eight to attend school five days a week. Social distancing will be required, and other COVID-19 health protocols will be in place including cohort education which means students will be in designated clusters for all classes, recesses, and lunches and will not mix with others. Secondary school students will be taught partly in school and partly through internet learning. At school they will be taught in cohorts of 15 students.
Masks will be required for all students and staff, with the exception of children in kindergarten to grade three where, at the suggestion of health care experts, masks are recommended but not required. Many more public health nurses, mental health workers, and custodians will be employed to ensure safe practises, cleanliness, and support for staff and students.
Of course, there will be critics of this plan. Parents are very understandably worried about their children. Many have expressed concern that students, especially younger ones, will never adhere to social distancing. Others are concerned that the cohort units are too large. They may be right on both counts. School unions, of course, are not supportive. I do think, however, that most teachers and teacher assistants and other support workers, as individuals, just want to help their students in as safe a manner as possible and are willing to take reasonable risks in doing so, just like other frontline workers are doing during this pandemic. I applaud them for that.
Martin Regg Cohn is a veteran columnist for the Toronto Star. I often disagree with him because, in my view, he excels at times as a Liberal apologist. However, even though he managed to get his digs in on the Ford Government in his article in the Star on Friday, he was spot on, in my view, when it came to his opinion on the Government’s plan to reopen public schools in September. Here, in part, is what he had to say:
“The back-to-school plan unveiled Thursday by Education Minister Stephen Lecce is not—despite efforts to demonize him—the devil’s work. It is merely a work in progress, a sensible start in the long road to recovery, albeit short on key details—notably its financial underpinnings.
“The good news is that it goes beyond the benchmarks of other provinces by mandating masks for the vast majority of Ontario’s two million students. Given Doug Ford’s reluctance to impose a mask requirement province-wide for adults, it is a relief to see the premier mandating it for all but the youngest students, in kindergarten to grade 3.
“Whatever shortcomings it may have, the back-to-school protocol is not political, which is why criticisms need not be partisan nor polemical. Pointing fingers at the Progressive Conservative government, or reviving old grudge matches, will not advance student education nor enhance teacher safety.”
He also said this:
“Inevitably, children will come down with infections and teachers will be exposed to transmission. Predictably, the press and the politicians, parents and teachers, will all cry foul.
“The test will be whether the government did what it could and should to protect children in a pandemic, recognizing that keeping them captive at home would harm them more. There are gaps in the plan, but they are not gaping holes that cannot be plugged with political will, a little goodwill, and financial wherewithal.”
In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed us. There was the lockdown, economic instability, changes in work venues, change in the way we do a lot of things, and real worry about the future. But if life is to continue, we need to come out of the shadows as safely as possible but, nevertheless, carry on. Reopening our public schools is an important and necessary step in that direction.
The plan put forward by the Ontario Government includes an important element: recognition that with very few exceptions, parents are best qualified to decide what is best for their children. The Province has provided parents and school boards with three options, one of which is to keep their children out of school and educate them from home. The other two provide partial or full-time in-school teaching, supplemented by online learning. It should be up to the parents and not the government to decide which option works best for them.
There are challenges ahead as to how, in a post-COVID-19 world, education can best be delivered to our young people. Inevitably, there will be significant changes. But that is a discussion for another day. Right now, under current conditions, we need to get our children back to school as safely as this sometimes-cruel world will allow.
At least the Ford Government has a plan. It may not be a perfect plan but as Martin Regg Cohn has said, it is a sensible start on the long road to recovery.
I, for one, can support that.
Hugh Mackenzie
Main image: Alexandra Koch / Pixabay
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Paul Whillans says
All along, we had a choice follow “the science” and commit to the path proffered. And in doing so community spread would be eradicated (or at least rigidly controlled). Businesses would be fully opened, children would return to school without fear and the only concern would be “outsiders” bringing the virus in. It is practice that has been successfully implemented around the world.
But Ontario never committed to this. In spite of what Premier says the scientists were not listen too (do you really think a scientist would have made “butlers” returning to work part of Phase I?). The Premier heads to his cottage during lockdown and has a personal Mother’s Day bash. He fails to prevent the movement from regions of high infection to regions of low infection.
And still more than 4 months later we are testing with the results coming back in a week or more (a test with results back more than 4 days is worth precisely zero) and we don’t have the tracing capacity outside of the GTA to handle even a minor outbreak.
For all practical purposes, this should have been over in June. And at today’s low new case levels if the government committed to timely testing and tracing, there would be no (zero) community spread within 4 weeks.
The fact is this conversation about the dangers of school opening was never necessary. Businesses would not be under such dark cloud. Billions of taxpayer money could have been saved. If only the Government of Ontario would commit to doing what it takes to eradicate community spread.
wendy J brown says
I would not even think of sending my children to school if they were young. Its a stupid idea just read up on whats happening in other countries. I dont care what politician came up with the idea its wrong to my way of thinking.
Bill Beatty says
Have spoken to parents who said , they will delay sending their children ( aka grandchildren ) back to class until some time passes to see effectiveness of the plan .I wholeheartedly agree with them . I for one want close interaction with my Grandchildren and that will will be much delayed again until the infection rate from this return is known . Not optimistic about this .Hope I am wrong !
Jim Boyes says
Good column Hugh.
Most things associated with the virus carry a risk.
Children for the most part, so I understand are not at huge risk.
Our young granddaughter will be in our house everyday by necessity. She should be in school wih her friends and living a normal life (mask and all) and learning.
We will be at greater risk than most at our age and with a student interacting with us daily.
However for her sake we are prepared for that risk.
I believe that Ford and company have been wise throughout this pandemic and have done the best that could be expected. Nohing is perfect.
We will hope for the best
Robin Brushey says
Note that local high school students will not be in cohorts, but all at school full-time in this plan. The cohorts approach is only for a larger school boards.
Hugh Mackenzie says
Robin: In terms of our local Board, I am not sure that this has been decided yet, one way or the other. I have reached out to the Board Chair and he will clarify as soon as possible.
Sandy McLennan says
I realize this an opinion piece yet you’ve got to admit that, complementary to your rival at The Star, there’s plenty of “aplogist” here.
My opinion is that facts would help – whether in editorial or news item.
You say: “Social distancing will be required, … students will be in designated clusters for all classes”. Is that right? What does this mean in Muskoka?
“Many more public health nurses, mental health workers, and custodians will be employed”. Is that right? How many and at which schools in Muskoka?
“School unions, of course, are not supportive”. Why of course?
Your rival: “back-to-school protocol is not political … holes that cannot be plugged with political will”. Oh, I see(?)
“there will be significant changes. But that is a discussion for another day”. Yes, and maybe even involving those damned unions and people who actually work in schools this time!
Richard Kitching says
Life is hard for conservatives these days, endlessly minimizing science, public health, and economic principles, and then throwing up their hands crying ” It is not a perfect plan. It really cannot be” when the biology of viruses, the science of climate change, and the labour theory of value are repeatedly shown to be the the truth of these times.
Ray Vowels says
As far as I’m concerned nothing should have ever been closed and that goes for businesses schools and everything in between. all it did was make our economy the worst it’s been in years put a lot of small businesses out of business a lot of people out of work and our counties debt so high that it will take years and years to get back a balanced budget All this just to make a few politician’s look good and get re elected.
just my view on things but likely this will not get posted nothing else I write gets posted Doppler doesn’t like me much.
Bob Edmunds says
For all of the commentary, I have heard precious little about school bus travel and any kind of safety measures. If our children can’t get to school safely any other education plans in this area are useless. Here there will be serious challenges for physical distancing. Will the drivers have any assistance, and what health protections? How many of them are especially vulnerable? Where will qualified replacements come from if they choose to not drive or get sick?
I’ve yet to hear answers or anyone ask the questions
Karen Wehrstein says
The best thing about this plan is that parents are free to choose… though of course those who choose to keep their kids home don’t get a choice over how much Covid spreads due to the choice of others who send their kids. That’s one thing never to forget about this pandemic: every choice everyone makes can affect everyone else.
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But I have to strongly disagree with this in part: “While there has been real progress in containing the pandemic, no one can know for sure how it is going to play out in the months or even years ahead.”
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Nonsense, except the “years ahead” part. We can see months ahead easily by looking at the experiences of other nations, because the virus interacts with humans the same way everywhere and many other countries were ahead of us on the timeline of the spread.
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National responses run the gamut from long and severe lockdowns to rigorous testing and contact tracing to the let-it-run-its-course chaos that’s happening south of the border. The various degrees of effectiveness of these responses are coldly and mercilessly revealed in the daily-new-cases and daily-new-deaths statistics for each nation that you can easily read and compare online (though since Trump took the national number-crunching away from the CDC and gave it to cronies in the private sector, the American figures are not to be trusted… it’ll all come out in time).
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When and how have they opened schools again in China? Japan? New Zealand where it’s now winter (if they ever had to close them)? The different parts of the USA? Closer to home, Quebec? And what were the results? That’s what the provincial government should be studying very carefully, and from what you’re saying, Hugh, it sounds like they’re not, but instead kind of guessing and pretending ignorance as an excuse. You may correct me if I’m wrong.
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I agree with Sandy McLennan that despite your deprecation of politicizing the pandemic, you are doing it yourself with the casual vilification of teacher’s unions (whose members, unlike the parents, have no choice but to accept the risk if they want to keep their careers and livings). It’s also hardly proper to call Martin Cohn down for being a Liberal apologist getting in his digs at the Tory government when you yourself constantly do the same thing the other way around. The human species has far too many challenges to face for wasting time and energy on “my tribe good your tribe bad” politics.
Libs Peca says
Good thoughts! I personally was happy to hear of the return to school plan!
I think the government has worked hard to look at all possible areas – immunocompromised teachers and staff, cleaning, busing, large population areas vs smaller areas etc – and sought the advice of health professionals.
I also like how they don’t have a one-size-fits-all plan yet and allowed flexibility for parents.
Our children, parents and communities need this.
I’m in!
Here to Serve,
Libs Peca
Grade 1 Teacher
25 years in Public Education