[GTranslate]School in Ontario is at the center of heated controversy. The clash between the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce and the teachers’ unions in the province is becoming increasingly fiery. Lecce did not like Toronto Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa’s move to issue a Section 22 order under the Health Protection and Promotion Act to move all Toronto students to online learning.
The minister is blaming the unions, it would be their pressure to shut down schools that would guide Toronto Public Health’s decision. “The data show that schools remained safe during this pandemic, as confirmed by the Chief Medical Officer of Health and local health officials in Ontario – said Minister Lecce’s spokeswoman, Caitlin Clark – while teachers’ unions continue to fuel fear, there are facts that cannot be questioned.” And Clark releases irrefutable data: in the middle of the third wave, 98.7% of schools are open and 30% of those closed are closed precisely because of a lack of staff and “not due to Covid-19 outbreaks or infections”. “99.8% of students and staff are not among the infected, and Ontario has one of the lowest rates of cases among young people under 19 across Canada – Clark continued – Dr. Lawrence Loh and Dr. David Williams have confirmed in the last 24 hours that schools are safe places for learning and that the shift to virtual learning is due to increased community cases.”
Meanwhile, premier Doug Ford announced yesterday that teachers in Toronto and Peel region high-risk neighborhoods will be able to get their Covid-19 vaccine administered during Spring Break. Education workers who provide direct daily support to students with special educational needs across the province will also be eligible for the vaccine. This initiative, Ford assured, will be extended to York, Ottawa, Hamilton, Halton and Durham when the supply of vaccines increases.
But while it is true that the numbers speak for themselves and photograph reality objectively, it cannot be denied that the infections in schools are skyrocketing: as many as 719 – 571 students, 146 teachers and 2 non-teaching staff members – are the cases recorded in the last twenty-four hours, cases that bring the total from the beginning of the school year to 14,213. And 1,266 are the schools where there is currently an outbreak of Covid while those closed amount to 57. These numbers, however, do not change the opinion of the Ministry of Education of the province. “It is our firm belief that schools should be open for classroom learning, as they are critical to students’ mental health, as confirmed by leading medical leaders in Ontario,” Ms. Clark said.
Alex Munter, president of Toronto’s Children’s Health Coalition, says that staying at home harms children and “doesn’t do much to end the third wave.” “We call on the government to recognize the difficulties children and families face and to do everything is in its power to reopen closed schools as soon as possible and save the school year,” reads the Children’s Health Coalition statement.
Meanwhile, both Toronto schools – from yesterday – and those in the Peel Region – from Monday – will remain closed at least until April 18.
And it’s a tug-of-war between the York Region District School Board and the York Region. The formal request by the school trustees of the board for the Chief Medical Officer of Health Karim Kurji to use the Health Protection and Promotion Act to transfer all students to the online study, is remaining unheard. York Region spokesman Patrick Casey said that contrary to what was decided in Toronto, Peel and Guelph, there are currently no plans to order school closures. “Covid-19 infections in York Region schools remain low and, to date, all school closures in the York Region have been decided due to staff shortages,” Casey said.
On Wednesday, education workers’ unions held a joint press conference, in which they called on the province to close schools in areas with high transmission rates. “To say that schools are immune is dangerous. This government is gambling with the lives of teachers, students, families and all Ontario residents – said press Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) – in-person learning is the best thing, but we are not safe in our schools at the moment.”
