MY BET IS ON FULL RETURN TO SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER

Experts say kids do better in classrooms as government prepares comprehensive plan

If there was a provincial election next week, the party I’d vote for would be focused on three issues: the economy, public health and getting our kids out of their bedrooms, off their screens, and back in school full time this September.

Some parents tell me that their kids have thrived with online schooling. I’m glad things are going well for them but from what I have seen and heard, online schooling paled in comparison to the real thing.

Teachers could only teach a fraction of the required material. Students lacked structure and face-to-face contact with instructors and fellow students. Some kids tuned out completely.

If you think I’m just one disgruntled parent, guess again. Here’s the American Academy of Pediatrics on why it’s recommending a careful return to school: “Children learn best when they are in school. … Evidence so far suggests that children and adolescents are less likely to have symptoms or severe disease from infection. They also appear less likely to become infected or spread the virus. Schools provide more than just academics to children and adolescents. In addition to reading, writing and math, children learn social and emotional skills, get exercise and access to mental-health support and other things that cannot be provided with online learning.”

“It is critical that all stakeholders come together now to ensure a safe return to the classroom in September,” says the Canadian Paediatric Society. “Children and youth with special needs, from low-income households, or for whom home is not a safe place, are facing some of the most significant consequences of school closures.”

The good news is that detailed guidelines are now being hammered out for a careful return to school on Sept. 1.

A final decision on how best to proceed will be announced on Aug. 1, but Wednesday in the Alberta legislature, Education Minister Adriana Lagrange said the government has worked with teachers, superintendents and school boards to come up with a sound plan. “I’m very proud of the comprehensive plan, and we will be ready in September to welcome our students back.”

There’s still debate over whether the province or the school boards will pay for extra public health measures, as well as what, if anything, might be cut in the education system to make up the difference. But progress is being made on public health protocols.

The guidance of chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw has been “very helpful,” says Bevan Daverne, president of the College of Alberta School Superintendents in an interview. “We’re feeling certainly like we’ve had really good leadership.”

One area of contention is sanitizing busy classrooms. In a letter to Lagrange two weeks ago, Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling spelled out the union’s position, that the job of the teacher is to teach, not clean or to screen out sick kids: “Teachers must not be expected to sanitize classrooms prior to, throughout or after the school day, or to screen children for illnesses prior to the start of classes.”

Teachers will not be expected to give their classes a once over between classes, Daverne says, but students will play a big part in sanitization, regularly washing their hands and cleaning up their own area.

Teachers will also clean up their own desk area, Daverne says, and classrooms will be supplied with wipes. Some teachers may even get physical barriers at their desks. “Districts are working with their teachers to make sure that they’re safe and they’re comfortable.”

The key, Daverne says, is to get out the message that students or teachers with any symptoms should stay at home, and not soldier on in class as they might have done in other years.

Screening is particularly important in early grades, where social distancing is difficult. “If we are more careful with screening — if we don’t have small children with symptoms at school — the risk to our staff is very, very low,” Daverne says.

My bet is that full schooling will go ahead in September.

Teachers must not be expected to sanitize classrooms prior to, throughout or after the school day.

I base this not only on Lagrange’s rhetoric, but also on what Schilling and Daverne say about the importance of regular schooling.

In a survey of 8,000 teachers, the ATA found many teachers missing their classrooms and face-to-face instruction. Some teachers have lost sleep with worry over the most vulnerable students, Schilling says in an interview.

And Daverne says: “The fabric of society is kids going to school … and if suddenly that can’t happen that’s an enormous disrupter in many ways … A return to as much normal as we can get is what everyone is looking for.”