(Files by Brendan Pawliw-MyPGNow)
BC Teachers Federation President Teri Mooring is calling on the Horgan government to issue province-wide coronavirus instructions to schools, instead of local health authorities.
Among their recommendations are a much stricter mask policy, a 15-student cap on class sizes as well as an overhaul on remote learning options.
Mooring called BC’s current mask policy in schools the laxest in the country and needs to be changed.
“The BC Centre for Disease Control didn’t even recommend the government’s current mask policy and we are asking the government to go further.”
“It’s really concerning to us as to why the government is so reluctant to do that. So, what we are concerned about is that the province is going to wait until we have a few more where the same volume of transmissions of the virus as we did in Surrey.”
Mooring also sounded on the current stance on remote learning in BC. stating there is not a consistent approach being taken by school districts.
“A real disparity across the province happened some districts offered the option, some didn’t – mostly, it was a transitional option with no plan to actually staff it and in lots of districts it’s the classroom teacher that’s responsible not only for the students they are teaching everyday full-time but also to support those students learning remotely.”
“It was intended for the districts to be a temporary program but what we are hearing now from families is that they are not prepared to send their children back and they may not send them back again this year. What districts intended being a temporary program is going to be full-time for this entire year because the government also said families should have the option of learning remotely so it’s quite a mess out there right now.”
She also agreed with the stance taken by the PG District Teachers Association proposing masks to be implemented at all grades.
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