Government says it will come up with a plan to improve ventilation in the schools but the PCs wonder why it hasn’t produced such a plan. Education Critic and Conception Bay South MHA Barry Petten says they have had enough time.
Why the delay he wonders. The two months of summer are gone and we knew about COVID almost two years ago he says.
NDP Education critic Jim Dinn, a past president of the NLTA, says the back to school plan is not a plan, but an easing of restrictions.
Dinn says the plan is contradictory to Public Health’s advice on masking.
He says masking is still strongly recommended especially when you’re not always able to physically distance from others and you don’t know the vaccination status of others. “That’s the school system right there,” says Dinn.
NLTA President Trent Langdon meanwhile says the union didn’t receive the official report from education officials until this morning.
Langdon says while the union met with government to air their views, their concerns remain and he thinks government is moving too quickly.
He says the Delta variant is on the doorstep so-to-speak, while thousands of students in K-6 are unvaccinated. He says to suggest that the pivot to online learning makes sense in theory, sounds easy, for educators it takes time and preparation. He believes government is moving too quickly with the easing of restrictions in that regard.
