Students protest COVID-19 measures
A couple of dozen high school students in New Westminster staged a brief classroom boycott and symbolic “die-in” on Tuesday to protest what they call a lacklustre response by authorities to COVID-19.
“We pretend to be dead to illustrate the consequences of these unsafe protocols,” one of the student organizers, Elena Massing, said before the Grade 9-12 students at New Westminster Secondary School marched in small, staggered, isolation-respecting numbers to a small park by the office of School Board District No. 40.
“The school has not done enough in terms of mental health. They've only instated one counsellor and that's just not enough for a student body of just over 2,000 kids.”
They also want masks to be mandatory in the classroom. So far Dr. Bonnie Henry hasn't made that a provincial requirement, so it is not part of department of health or education protocols.
“So a lot of students aren't wearing masks,” said Grace Hodges, another organizer of the event. “That's causing a lot of anxiety.”
Students at the school, one of the biggest in the province, received emails on Monday warning them one student had tested positive for COVID-19. Provincewide there have been 31 exposure notices for B.C. schools, 21 of them in the Fraser Health Region, with 15 of those in Surrey.
The New West students also said they are concerned that students in low-income families who study online and don't have access to high-speed internet are being punished academically.
They also are asking that TransLink increase bus service because buses are so packed.
Hodges expressed frustration at what she said is a lack of communication between students and the school administration and district.
“There's been almost radio silence on their end for students who have basic concerns, there's been a lot of miscommunication that's caused a lot of stress that has not yet been resolved.
“We've found that a recurring theme, so now we're taking more drastic measures.”
Karim Hachlaf, the superintendent of School District No. 40, pointed out he held a town hall with several hundred students a few weeks ago, in which he answered questions.
Following that, he held another virtual meeting for individual students who wanted to followup, including two of the organizers of Tuesday's event, he said.
“I'm always happy to see students who want to be engaged, whether it's a surprise or not,” Hachlaf said of the protest held outside the district office.
The district has redistributed some of its regional counselling to the secondary school given the demand and feedback it's heard from students, he said.
“And I can share with you that with the recent announcement of federal funds ($242.4 million in one-time funding for the 2020-21 school year in B.C.) we will be allocating additional trained counselling staff to the secondary school.
“That is about to happen, actually. It hasn't yet taken place, but it is going to happen.”
Organizing Tuesday's boycott and die-in isn't something Massing and Hodges, both Grade 11 students, have done before.
“And I don't think it's something we should be doing, we shouldn't have to be doing all of this,” Massing said. “It should be the district's responsibility to look for these issues and figure out how to address them. Putting it all on us, whether it was intentional or not, it's not right.”