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Burnaby teachers concerned about 'holes' in back-to-school plan

The Burnaby teachers’ union is confident it can work with the school district to come up with a plan to get teachers and kids back to school safely this fall – but not by the first day after Labour Day.
Sperling Elementary, back to school, COVID-19
Socially distanced backpacks at Sperling Elementary School speak to anti-COVID-19 measures taken during a partial return to in-class instruction in June.

The Burnaby teachers’ union is confident it can work with the school district to come up with a plan to get teachers and kids back to school safely this fall – but not by the first day after Labour Day.

“As teachers, we get that education is vital for these students and families, particularly in classroom settings,” Burnaby Teachers’ Association president Daniel Tetrault told the NOW, “so we get the importance of the return to in-class teaching, but we need time to get students back to school safely … It’s just too soon with too many unanswered questions and things that need to be addressed.”

Education Minister Rob Fleming announced last week that “most students” in the province would return to school on Sept. 8 with measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Even before the minister’s press conference was over, however, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation sent out a news release calling the plan a “work in progress” and saying more time and planning were needed before schools reopen.

BCTF president Teri Mooring called on the government to give the Ministry of Education’s steering committee and working groups, whose members include BCTF representatives and classroom teachers, more time to plan the return to school.

Mooring listed a number of key concerns, including the need for authentic consultation and collaboration between school districts and local unions; for health-and-safety measures to be in place and tested before staff and students return to the schools; for time in September for teachers to plan, prepare and get health-and-safety orientations; for smaller classes so physical distancing can be maintained; and for clarity around the province’s proposed “cohort model.”

Tetrault isn’t worried about the first item on that list.

“We are confident with our consultation process and our relationship with the district,” he said. “We’re confident that we’ll work together with the school district for solutions.”

It’s the rest that concern him.

A Mocrop social studies and French immersion teacher, Tetrault doesn’t see how high school students will get full access to the curriculum and electives under the province’s cohort plan, which would see secondary and elementary students hived off into cohorts of 120 and 60 students respectively to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and make contact tracing easier.

He’s also concerned about when teachers will get an orientation on new anti-COVID protocols and how social distancing can be maintained unless school officials reduce class sizes.

“The current model has a number of holes and unanswered questions, so time is needed,” Tetrault said.

A letter to parents from Burnaby’s school superintendent Gina Niccoli-Moen last week reassured parents the district was “not starting from scratch” with its back-to-school plans since local schools had seen a partial return to in-class instruction in June, and the district has since run a 4,200-student summer school session.

But Tetrault said the September plan announced last week was “very different” from the June model, which, among other differences, had mandated much smaller class sizes.

Tetrault echoed Mooring’s call for the Ministry of Education to give the steering committee and working groups more time to come up with a sustainable back-to-school plan.

“I think teachers would have less anxiety if there was more time given to have a plan that works,” he said. “We don’t want to rush something that’s going then to have to go back and be done all over again. Look at places where they’ve rushed returns to normal activity too soon. It hasn’t worked.”