EDUCATION
Cost of return to school concerns advocates
As the province asks K-12 schools to prepare for a likely return of students to classrooms this fall, parents and teachers are raising concerns about how health and safety will be ensured with no new funding or additional staff.
Education Minister Adriana Lagrange confirmed Wednesday that while the province won’t make a final decision until Aug. 1, it is expected that students will be back to class as normal. The only mandatory protocols included physical distancing when possible, routine screening of COVID -19 symptoms, and increased cleanliness, including regular handwashing, and deep cleaning of buses and schools.
But Lagrange would not specify whether school districts would receive additional funding to hire more cleaning staff, place health professionals in schools or add hand-sanitizing stations in schools.
“There are going to be a lot of challenges facing teachers and families. And I wonder if there’s going to be enough funding in place to handle all of this,” said Sarah Bieber, spokeswoman for the Kids Come First parent advocacy group.
“Even if that money is provided, will it be budgeted properly? Because we know funding decisions made by districts have often been questionable.”
Barb Silva, spokeswoman for the Support Our Students advocacy group, said the province is simply providing rules to districts and then abandoning them.
“It is like they are walking away and just saying, ‘you handle it.’
“There is no leadership, no accountability . . . it is all about giving boards so-called autonomy to deal with these challenges, but then not providing them with the funding they need to do it.”
Since the UCP introduced its budget in the spring, school boards across the province have raised concerns about funding shortfalls that have resulted in larger class sizes and less support staff in schools. The Calgary Board of Education, for instance, is looking to make up a $48-million funding gap for next year, with officials estimating class sizes will go up by at least two students across the board.
While the CBE has maintained the $20-million bump in provincial funding received this year as compared to last is not nearly enough to address enrolment growth, the province insists local districts have enough to pay for any increased costs associated with COVID-19.
“Every public school authority in the province is receiving a funding increase next school year compared to this year, and has the financial resources available to support a successful transition to the 2020-21 school year,” said Colin Aitchison, press secretary for the education minister.
“The government has provided clear guidelines in the plan and the guidance documents. Alberta Education and local medical officers of health are available to work with a school authority on questions or details they need related to their specific situation.”
But the Alberta Teachers’ Association said they will continue to ask for more funding for COVID -19 safety protocols as they sit down with the province over the next six weeks to prepare a final plan for Aug. 1.
“If school boards are going to be responsible for implementing different scenarios and protocols, there has to be consistency as to how that will be supported, otherwise it will come with a lot of anxiety for staff and students,” said ATA president Jason Schilling.
“Teachers miss their students, and students miss their teachers, but a return to class has to be done safely.
“Particularly in rural districts, where there may not even be a daytime caretaker in each school.”
Lagrange insisted that, if required, when cases of COVID-19 are confirmed at a school, districts will be expected to quickly transition to a second scenario, physically distancing students in classrooms by at least two metres, allowing no more than 15 people in a room.
That means districts will then have to implement a “modified calendar,” Lagrange said, allowing only some students to attend school some of the time.
But Silva added that with so many overcrowded classrooms holding up to 40-plus students in one room, students may have to divide school attendance inconsistently, over staggered days.
“It won’t be some kids come in the morning, and then the rest in the afternoon. There are so many kids, they may only be able to come once or twice a week,” Silva said, adding that brings increased challenges to parents who have to work outside the home who may not be able to plan when their kids are at home or at school.
Alberta Education has also issued a handbook of guidelines on its website, detailing various cleanliness protocols such as ensuring kids and staff wash hands whenever they enter a school or a classroom, regular deep cleans of classrooms and washing students’ materials each time they have been used. Schilling worries that burden will fall to teachers, who are already dealing with enough stress and complexities in classrooms.