Is this the
best we can do?
For families, for teachers, for the economy,
and for our kids?
Have time to do more?
Send an email.
There has to be a better way.
Part-time learning, one of the options presented by Premier Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce for September will fail our kids, our families, working parents, and ultimately, the economy.
After months of uncertainty during this pandemic, providing three options with little detail, and asking school boards to come up with the rest, is a failure of leadership.
Parents need more.
Medical experts are recommending children return to school. As per the Sick Kids report, “It is critical that we balance the risks of Covid-19 in children, which appear to be minimal, with the harms of school closure which is impacting their physical and mental health. It should be recognized that it will not be possible to remove all risk of infection and disease.”
The past 100+ days have been incredibly difficult. Assuming that a parent will be available, with a screen for each kid, and high-speed internet, is not going to work for another round.
Do the Premier and Minister know that some parents have had to travel to their school’s parking lot to access wifi to download assignments, and then travel back to upload them? That those kids miss all the online classroom meetings? What about children who are in homes where they are witnessing and, in some instances, suffering from, domestic violence. Can we get them into school five days a week and reconnect them with trusted adults? Children with special needs thrive on consistency. Can we provide that for them on a full-time basis? And how can we care for Indigenous and racialized children whose communities have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19?
Parents whose employers believe they will be able to work full-time without distractions are going to burn out (more than they already have!) To say nothing of the single parents… how will they manage (how have they been managing?!?). We can’t go on like this. Our kids will suffer. Families will suffer. The economy will suffer. With all the experts we have in this province, there has to be a better way!
We can get kids safely into school full-time and create a safe working environment for teachers and support staff. It may mean creative thinking and resource allocation—but let’s try.
Take action! Contact the decision makers!
#Familiesneedschool #Kidsneedschool
Our voices need to be heard!
Education is a provincial responsibility. The provincial government AND your local school board need to know how you feel!
WRITE and/or CALL the Provincial Government folks below. It can be short and sweet! Send one email to everyone at once. Add in as many details as you are comfortable sharing. For a bit of a template, see below. If you’re shy, leave a VOICEMAIL!
Premier Doug Ford (use this form or premier@ontario.ca) 416-325-1941
Education Minister Stephen Lecce (minister.edu@ontario.ca) 416-325-2600
Health Minister Christine Elliot (christine.elliott@ontario.ca) 416-212-3831
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams (dr.david.williams@ontario.ca) 416-212-3831
Your local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) - find them here. (Scroll to “find my MPP”).
Marit Stiles, Opposition Critic for Education (NDP) (MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca) 416-326-7202
Nancy Naylor, Deputy Minister of Education (nancy.naylor@ontario.ca) 416-325-2600
Helen Angus, Deputy Minister of Health (helen.angus@ontario.ca)
ALL EMAILS TO COPY & PASTE: premier@ontario.ca, minister.edu@ontario.ca, christine.elliott@ontario.ca, dr.david.williams@ontario.ca, MStiles-QP@ndp.on.ca, nancy.naylor@ontario.ca, helen.angus@ontario.ca, ***don’t forget to add your MPP’s email!***
WRITE and/or CALL your local school board administration!
To find your school board, click here.
SHARE with your fellow parent friends. Strength in numbers!
TEMPLATE for your emails/calls
(note: form letters like the one below get less attention than personal letters. You can be brief! If this template makes the difference between not emailing/calling and emailing/calling, then use it. But if you can write your own, all the better. Polite & concise works!).
Dear Premier Ford, Minister Lecce, [your MPP], Minister Elliot, Dr. Williams, MPP Stiles, Ms. Naylor and Ms. Angus:
I am the parent of [child 1, age X], [child 2, age X], [child 3, age X], etc. I work [full time/part-time/inside the home/outside the home]. We have been struggling for the past three+ months to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. [Add a line or two describing your experience and how it has impacted your children]. I am incredibly disappointed by the lack of leadership and thought that has gone into forcing the school boards to make decisions about the return to school in September.
Premier Ford, you have said repeatedly throughout this pandemic that keeping kids safe is your priority. You have said that you rely on medical advice to make decisions during this pandemic. Medical experts, including those at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, are recommending that children in Ontario attend school full time. Keeping kids safe includes their physical, emotional and mental health. Children in Ontario have a right to attend school, safely, full time.
Proposing a part-time model begs the question: what are parents supposed to do with the other three days of the week their children are not in school? They will find childcare in other areas—hiring babysitters, nannies, bubbling with other families—making containment and contact tracing a nightmare. Others who have been financially impacted by Covid-19 or who were already struggling before this started won’t be able to afford such stopgap measures. Will they end up choosing between childcare and their jobs?
School boards were already struggling with insufficient resources and are now going to have to double their efforts with half the resources.
If you want to reboot the economy, you MUST resolve this issue for our children. Use the incredible experts and their ideas you have at your disposal to get kids SAFELY back to school—five days a week. Think outside the box. Look at how other countries who have succeeded on this issue. Consider that childcare has been available for essential workers—exposed to the disease on a daily basis in some cases—on a full-time basis for months and have not presented any significant contributions to the pandemic.
Please, please reconsider your proposed options. The economy depends on it. Part-time attendance in school with online learning is not an acceptable plan.
Sincerely,
[Your name]