COCHRANE— Calling on the provincial government to take additional steps to ensure the return to school is as safe as possible, teachers and parents rallied outside Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie's office on Wednesday (Aug. 19).
Muriel Clayton Middle School teacher Alicia Huculak was on hand for the rally to “advocate for a safe reopening for our students, their families, our communities and our teachers and staff."
The group planned on delivering a letter to Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie listing their requests for the upcoming school year.
Huculak said it is a mix of emotions getting ready to reenter the classroom— It is exciting knowing she will be able to reconnect with her students using face-to-face learning, but she has concerns that more proactive steps need to be taken to keep everyone safe.
Huculak said those who attended the rally had six main “asks” for the return to school— These include hiring more staff to reduce class sizes, hiring more custodial staff to keep the schools clean and safe, hiring more staff for special needs students in Kindergarten to Grade 3, ensuring substitute teachers have sick leave during stages one to three of COVID-19 precautions and substitutes are in place for teachers who fall ill, increasing support for teacher and family safety so people can care for those that fall ill, and encouraging the support of teachers, doctors, nurses and other essential workers.
Huculak praised the work and safety steps taken by Rocky View Schools and other school divisions in the province. However, she added these efforts have been stymied by the lack of assistance seen from the province.
“We feel like we don’t have a voice right now,” Huculak said. “We’re asking for these things. Families, parents, students are asking for these things and without that response, it just feels like we’re being heard even less.”
Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie said he did not have a chance to connect with the protesters on Wednesday due to a meeting he had with Minister of Finance Travis Toews at the Cochrane RancheHouse that conflicted with the timing of the event. He noted the group did not reach out to his office to schedule a meeting and he has not yet seen the letter they planned to deliver to him.
While he appreciates teachers and parents want to see class sizes decreased to as low as 15 students, Guthrie said, the province faces both physical and economic deterrents when it comes to answering these demands.
“It is an impossibility, the teachers are asking us essentially to build 800 new schools before September 1 and hire 3,000 new teachers,” Guthrie said. “It’s an unreasonable expectation.”
Guthrie added he is a “huge advocate” of the education system, his two children recently graduated from high school and his wife is a former school teacher.
Facilitating a safe return to school is a delicate balancing act, Guthrie explained, of keeping teachers, students and families safe while looking to the fiscal challenges the province will face in the future.
“We’ve just gone through and are still in a pretty serious situation here with COVID. We’re making huge strides but there is going to be a time when we have to look at our fiscal situation,” Guthrie said. “We’re going to do everything we possibly can to facilitate a safe return to school.”
Cochranite Ray Li was on hand at the rally because he was concerned about reentry as both a teacher and father to two children aged 10 and 12.
“I feel that our government should probably spend some more funds in order to get the smaller class sixes that we need and protection for our students and staff,” Li said. “The present amount of cleaning is not enough and reduced class sizes would lower the chances of spreading.”
Li said while he wants his children to return to the classroom and experience some semblance of normalcy and reconnect with their friends, he also wants it to be in the safest environment possible.
Starting in scenario two, a mix on online and in-class learning, may have been a better option, Li said, because it provided a more suitable opportunity to ensure students, staff and families could stay safe.
Li said it is a challenging situation because based on the reaction from the provincial government, teachers' concerns are not being addressed.
“They should be doing more,” Li said.
Concerned Bragg Creek parent Tammy Neid felt compelled to attend the rally because she feels the provincial government has not done a good job of opening the schools safely.
Neid said her major concern is that social distancing will not be possible in schools, and this in turn will impact community transmissions of COVID-19.
Neid added she is grateful masks will be mandatory for Grades 4 to 12 to help lower the transmission of the virus. However, she wishes MLAs were taking more time to listen to the safety concerns of students, families and teachers.
Neid and her husband, who are both teachers, will be sending their students back to Branded Peak School in September.
“If we have to go to work then they have to go to school— We kind of feel stuck that way," Neid said. “My husband and I have joked about it that we are lucky we took out our life insurance policies ... I don’t feel overly safe going back.”
