Date: August 25, 2020
For Release: Immediately
The President of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) says all parents should be provided with a detailed health and safety audit of their children’s classrooms prior to school resuming on September 8th.
Paul Wozney says parents and teachers have deep concerns about the government’s ability to stop the spread of COVID-19 in schools and it’s only fair they are given specific details about the conditions children will be experiencing in two weeks’ time.
The health audit would provide the following specifics: the number of children in the class, the square footage of the class, the amount of physical distance between students, the type of ventilation in the classroom and the number of proper hand washing stations (running water and soap) in the classroom.
“A safe return to school this September means smaller class sizes, two meters of physical distance between everyone, proper ventilation, non-medical masks for all who can safely wear one, and the ability to properly wash hands on a regular basis,” says Wozney. “Parents deserve to know in advance if the appropriate measures are in place to keep their children safe when they return to school. This is going to require more than open windows and sanitizer.”
In the past two weeks 2,000 Nova Scotians have emailed their concerns to their MLA at https://www.actforeducation.ca/. A petition started by a concerned parents group (Parents for Public Education) calling for a “better back-to-school plan” received 5,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.
With respect it matters not what the Teacher’s Union says, wants or expects for the reopening of the schools. Government solidly took over education in the year 2000. The amalgamation of tiny school districts were made into “institutions of education” controlled by Administration of each amalgamated school district/board. For instance, Dartmouth City, Halifax City and District and Halifax County amalgamated to become Halifax Regional School Board. Human Resources were staffed with non-educators and corporate lawyers with one spokesperson controlling the media. This is factual knowledge – the administration of HRSB and government always got what they wanted. In 2017 government fired/dismantled the elected board members to get full control over education. Parents and Grandparents have no voice nor do teachers because government has always run the show. It is scandalous, but it is what happened over time – government with their legal team wanted to advance their own agenda in 2000. Their agenda for the most part has never been concerned with safety or duty towards the school community or its employees in my view. This neglect is very obvious of late from the postings from educators and the community at large – a frightening prospectus for the vulnerable school community in 2020.
Need to be 100% sure our kids are safe