Too many people, not enough space.
That continues to be a concern of the Prince George District Teachers Association (PGDTA) following the B.C. provincial health office’s latest additions and amendments to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines in school announced this morning (Feb. 4).
The changes announced by Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry requires mandatory masks for students and staff in all indoor areas in middle and secondary schools, which now includes classrooms until they’re seated at a desk or eating and drinking.
“It is a start,” said PGDTA President Joanne Hapke to PrinceGeorgeMatters regarding the slight changes, but believes teachers should also be given some leeway.
“Teachers need the autonomy to be able to determine when they would like a student to be wearing a mask, and students should comply with these requests.”
Hapke does welcome the new rule, but she believes it’s not much different than what students were already doing with masks in common areas, the classroom now being the difference.
Five months later and hundreds of COVID-19 exposure events later, including 19 schools based in Prince George, 16 with School District 57 (SD57), the province decided to make the change.
“These should have been implemented in September when we returned to school, but we will take them now. We will work with what is given to us and continue to advocate for more as necessary.”
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), as of this publication, there have been 6,334 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in children aged 10 to 19, including 367 in Northern Health.
Since students returned to the classroom in September, the B.C. government says more than $5.7 million of the K-12 Education Restart Plan for school districts has been used to purchase 3.9 million masks for students and staff.
“Since the start of the school year, we have paid close attention to our schools and learned much, including the importance of having robust safety plans and using the layers of protection,” said Dr. Henry in a statement following today’s conference.
“Masks are one important layer, and these updated guidelines will strengthen how and where they should be used to protect everyone.”
Hapke believes there should be no problem with local students and staff following the new mask rule, especially with limited spacing in all classrooms and not enough room to physically distance two metres apart.
“Wearing masks is not a difficult thing to do for most people. Why would we not want to do this one thing that combined with handwashing is the only layer of protection that we have in education. We know that there is not physical distancing.”
At the end of the day, Hapke says local teachers want to keep schools open, to feel safe in their own work environment and to be respected.
“I would like to see all students and staff stay home when sick until well enough to be at school. Most people are doing what is expected, but not all are. If people have travelled outside of our city then they should be required to mask when in school for a minimum number of days. Teacher voices need to be heard and our message respected.”
Today, Whiteside also announced the second installment of $121.2 million in federal funding will be provided to B.C. schools to help manage COVID-19, through things like hiring additional staff, and upgrading ventilation systems.
Of this new funding, $900,000 will go to set up a “rapid response team” in each health authority, which will be deployed at significant exposure events to help review situations and make recommendations.
Whiteside said about 90 per cent of B.C. students are currently attending some sort of in-class learning across the province.
- with a file from Nicholas Johansen, Castanet
