Joint letter lists three actions that need to be taken by Premier Doug Ford concerning education

BY PAUL JUNOR

As schools remain closed across the province, and in-person learning is suspended, educators’ and stakeholders sent a joint letter to Premier Doug Ford on Thursday, January 7^th, 2021.

The letter was sent by the Elementary Teachers Federation (ETT) and can be seen at ETT.ca.  The letter was signed and endorsed by the Presidents of five teachers unions: Leslie Wolfe of OSSTF Toronto, John Weatherup of CUPE 4400, Rob Fulford of EFTO Toronto Occasional Teachers, Jennifer Brown of Elementary Teachers of Toronto and Linda Bartram of Occasional Teachers’ Bargaining Unit-D12.

The letter was meant as a show of solidarity to address issues that remained unresolved as schools were set to reopen on Monday, January 25^th, 2020. The letter was undoubtedly meant as a response to the letter that Education Minister, Stephen Leece wrote to the parents of Ontario.

On Saturday, January 2^nd, 2021, this letter was intended to assure parents and caregivers that the Ministry of Education was doing their best. It focused on what had been done to provide support devices, Internet services, financial support and initiatives to keep childcare and schools safe.

The joint letter counteracts the point that all teachers received online training in remote learning. The fact is many teachers were not able to access the professional development training. The letter states that many educators and students are still lacking digital resources and support to teach student effectively. It mentioned the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) had not provided adequate training to teachers.

There are three actions that are expected from the letter:

ACTION # 1
The government must listen to public health and education experts and take every action to prevent COVID-19 transmission. Don’t downplay the risk in the schools, as they have in the past.

The letter is particularly concerned about the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black, Indigenous and people of colour, at-risk communities and the potential effects of unsafe school reopening policies on them.

ACTION # 2
The government must provide funding and direction in brick and mortar schools to:

• Hire more educators for smaller class sizes so that students and educators can adhere to the two meters of physical distancing mandated everywhere else in Ontario
• Provide appropriate levels of medical grade PPE for all educators and masks for all students
• Ensure that all classes have functioning windows that open and close, as well as modern ventilation systems with HEPA filters
• Hire more cleaning staff for the regular cleaning and sanitizing of classrooms and shared spaces and more in- school nurses to assist with screenings and managing potential outbreaks
• Institute an on-going program of asymptomatic testing in schools until COVID-19 has been eradicated
• Establish mobile vaccination sites for teachers and education workers for voluntary vaccination

Education Minister, Stephen Leece announced on Thursday, January 7^th, 2020 that there would be province-wide asymptomatic testing in schools, and more funding for PPE, and hiring extra caretakers.

ACTION # 3
Your government must provide funding and direction in virtual schools to:

• Provide schools with the up-to-date technology so that educators can properly implement remote, and synchronous learning in virtual schools when brick and mortar schools are closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks
• Give educators the digital resources and supports necessary to provide the education our students deserve
• Fund supports for students, including access to devices and the Internet
• Make certain educators have sufficient release time to be trained for any new initiative
• Stop adding on to educator’s workload, especially work that is typically done by other unions

The hope is that the government addresses the Internet inequities in virtual schools, which has exacerbated the digital divide. Many students in Toronto schools still do not have devices and consistent Internet service.

There is much hope that the joint letter will prompt the PC-led government to invest more money to ensure that the health and safety of all Ontario students are paramount at all times.