Ford sticking with school plan despite new warning

Toronto Public Health warns class sizes should be smaller than usual

Premier Doug Ford is sticking with his back-to-school plan despite a new warning from Toronto Public Health about elementary class sizes being too large, but pledges the province will be “flexible” as the pandemic evolves.

“The last thing I want parents to worry about is whether their child is safe,” Ford said Friday, a day after Toronto’s public health department cited “concerns” with the provincial plan and told the Toronto District School Board class sizes should be “smaller than usual” to improve physical distancing and reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

“We have to be flexible and we have been flexible. We have to be adaptable. We’re still about a month away moving into the school year,” Ford told a news conference at the legislature.

The issues raised by Toronto Public Health echo concerns teacher unions and parent groups aired repeatedly since the back-to-school plan was released last week,with calls for class sizes of no more than 15.

Some have noted that provincial guidelines limit families to having one “social circle” of the same 10 people who can be in close contact but requiring physical distancing with all others — but not in elementary classrooms with twice as many children, or more.

The Toronto District School Board said Friday it has been working with the city’s public health department throughout the pandemic, noted its concerns about the provincial plan and has been working with the Ministry of Education on ways to lower class sizes.

“Depending on funding, other strategies may have to be considered, such as shortening the school day, reassigning teachers from non-classroom roles and lower class sizes in areas deemed at risk by Toronto Public Health,” spokesperson Ryan Bird said in a statement.

“While school boards, including the TDSB, have received additional funding for staff, this limited funding is not enough to cover the requirements in a system our size, let alone the entire province.”

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario also expressed concern.

“With the current plan, students will be returning to crowded classrooms without the possibility for the physical distancing that parents, education stakeholders and publichealth advocates have been asking for,” said uinion president Sam Hammond.

He scoffed at comments from Education Minister Stephen

Lecce that school boards can fund ways to reduce class sizes by spending from their reserve accounts.

“Not every board has the reserves to do that. The government knows that class size is a problem, but refused to make the necessary investments to ensure that every child in the province is safe.”

Lecce defended the blueprint, which requires children in Grades 4 to 12 to wear masks that will be optional for kids in lower years. It also devotes $309 million to having 500 public health nurses in schools along with money to hire extra teachers and custodians and buy mass quantities of hand sanitizer.

“The chief medical officer of this province has said that this plan will ensure kids are safe. But as evidence emerges, and as needs are presented — particularly in those higher-risk needs of Toronto where we’re seeing higher rates of transmission — we want to work with the public board and all boards in Ontario.”

Ford said many areas of Ontario have seen no new or few cases of COVID-19 in weeks, so the situation in Toronto isn’t the only factor in developing a back-to-school plan.

“One size doesn’t fit all,” added the premier, who acknowledged earlier this week that “not all parents are going to be 100 per cent comfortable” with the plan.

The Toronto Public Health concerns were in a letter from associate medical officer Dr. Vinita Dubey.

She wrote “in elementary classes (JK to Grade 3) where masks are not required, smaller class sizes will be particularly important to ensure students can be spaced out and reduce transmission.”

Dubey noted distancing of two metres between pupils “works well to prevent the spread of respiratory droplets from one person to another.”

Dubey issued a statement Friday saying the Ford government’s plan “contains many important public health measures,” but reinforced that “smaller classes will also help limit virus spread to fewer people if a case is identified in a school setting.”

Experts from the Hospital for Sick Children have said reducing class sizes should be a “priority strategy” for the government to limit the spread of COVID-19.

High school classes will top out at15 students in large urban boards.