Teacher, NSTU react to classroom return
SYDNEY — For Glace Bay High School teacher John White, the end of this school year is one he’s unlikely to forget.
Friday afternoon after the school day, he was in his backyard doing some work when a few students pulled up in front of his house and called him over. They asked him if he’d heard they were going back into the classroom the following week.
“I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ … No we’re not, [in-person] school is cancelled for the year, it’s online learning, I’ve got my lessons ready to go.’ … So the students told me, that’s how I found out.”
The 54-year-old skilled trades teacher said the sudden reversal took him off guard, following Iain Rankin’s May 19 announcement that the remainder of this school year would be online. He said he feels disrespected by the province’s Department of Education.
“My lessons for the following week are set to go. … So now I’m trying to haul my stuff back to school because I was told to come and remove
it, so I took all my supplies home.”
White teaches apprenticeship, manufacturing and construction trades and is also a school counsellor. He said he’s had good attendance online this year and that it will be difficult to achieve much with the sudden switch this close to the end of the school year.
SCHOOL STAFF DON’T HAVE ANSWERS
“It’s really not fair to the students, it’s not fair to the teachers, the custodians, the cafeteria employees. Everybody’s asking questions and I can’t answer them.”
White said he walked into a classroom Monday morning with bookshelves sitting in the middle of the room and computers unplugged and moved so that the floor could be waxed since custodians were told to clean for the year’s end.
“The phone calls that the staff are dealing with upstairs: ‘Is the cafeteria going to be open this week when the kids come back?’ I’m sorry, but nobody has an answer, we don’t know. I understand the cafeterias are contracted out and they came in and removed all the food [when they heard] the schools were closed for the year.
He said he has seven days of teaching students in-class and then year-end assessments, which has changed from the online exams that were previously planned.
“We want to make this work, I want my students to have a good experience. This is a year in my job, but it’s their Grade 11 year, Grade 12 year, whatever it may be.
“It’s just another year for me, I’m going to have many of these, but it’s their only one. I want them to have a good experience, so I’m going to try and make it work, but it’s really frustrating and it’s really taking a toll on people.”
FROM SUMMER MAINTENANCE TO CLASSROOM PREPARATION
Nova Scotia Teachers Union president Paul Wozney said that of the over 330 public schools across Nova Scotia presently, over half of them are in previous states of “tear down and summer maintenance” following the remote learning announcement.
“There's a ton of schools that are in various states of deconstruction and disrepair for summer maintenance, and now have to be sort of BandAided back together for kids to arrive within 48 hours.
“Jerking the wheel wildly from remote learning to in-person learning with effectively less than 48 hours notice is exceedingly difficult for teachers.”
Wozney said many maintenance and custodial staff across the province are working “ridiculous” hours now to get schools back to a state that’s safe for students to enter and physically ready for learning.
“It's clear that the government really didn't take into account all the logistics of its decisions and how this is going to impact the overall readiness of the school system. … This has really thrown the end of the year into chaos.”
‘WE’RE RELYING ON SANITIZER AND DIRECTIONAL STICKERS’
Nova Scotia Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Derek Mombourquette said that teachers have been given a couple of extra professional development days to prepare for the transition from online learning back to in-class teaching.
“When it comes to the academic side of things, nothing will change; the academic calendar remains the same. … I think the important
thing here is that instead of students doing it at home, they're now going to be doing it with all of the resources of the classrooms.
“Our bus drivers, our custodians and many other staff were still involved with schools during the lockdown, so that's all up and ready to go, our food programs will be up and ready to go and we'll be there to support the teachers in any way we can as we open back up tomorrow and Thursday.”
He said he wants to thank teachers for their ability to adjust during the pandemic and that the government has received a very positive response “across the province” on how the athome learning model went.
“That's a testament to the work and the love and compassion our teachers have for our students.”
However, Wozney said that the sudden switch has been “a logistical nightmare” for teachers and everyone else involved in education.
“There are no new resources being deployed to schools, there are no new protections for students and staff heading back to in-person learning. We're relying on hand sanitizer and directional stickers at a time when many people remain unvaccinated.”