THUNDER BAY - Representatives from two local teacher’s unions are refuting claims by Premier Doug Ford that a lack of consensus between medical experts and union officials are keeping students out of the classroom.
“That is super frustrating and deliberately misleading statement. We are really struggling with that and obviously public reaction to that would be challenging,” said Mike Judge, local president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.
“We have said from the very start that Dr. DeMille and advice from Dr. Williams should be the ones making this decision. When she says we should be under regional reopening especially with schools, that’s what we should be doing.”
During a media conference on Thursday when it was announced the province-wide stay-at-home order will be extended until at least June 2, which includes keeping students learning at home, Ford said health experts want to reopen schools while teacher’s unions are fighting to keep them closed with possible injunctions.
“We need consensus. We simply don’t have that right now,” Ford said. “So for the time being we will need to continue with virtual learning.”
“It was laughable. It is another example of a premier that just flat-out lies,” said Richard Seeley, president of the Ontario Secondary Teachers Federation District 6A.
Seeley added that he is not aware of any injunctions waiting to be put in place if the government reopens schools.
“We did potentially have some injunctions looking at Peel, York, and Toronto prior to the lockdown in March because we worried about the safety of staff and students in those areas, but the medical officers of health in those areas did the right thing and closed things down,” he said.
“We are not sitting waiting for the government to open schools and then slap an injunction. There are no injunctions sitting around. That is coming from nowhere.”
Both Judge and Seeley said their members are in favour of reopening schools after the stay-at-home order is lifted on June 2 if it is safe to do so, because that is where teachers and students want to be.
“We look to the medical experts for what they think should be happening,” Seeley said. “Probably a regional approach wouldn’t be a bad thing. Our members want to be back in school. They want to see their students again. And we want the kids back as well. But we want it to be done in a safe way.”
“I think we can get to a point where kids and teachers can get back into the building safely,” Judge added.
“Knowing the vast majority of education workers have had their first dose of vaccination and be within the two to three week window and that the numbers in Thunder Bay are low and hopefully stay low and decline, I think it’s safe to reopen. But I have given up trying to predict what our premier is going to do.”
Despite Ford’s comments on Thursday, teacher’s unions say they have not been consulted on school closures since the start of the pandemic and they have no say on any final decisions.
“We try to advocate and have our voices heard. But it’s the health units, it’s the boards, and it’s the government,” Seeley said. “They are the decision makers and the government has not engaged with us at all over the last 18 months on what we think about reopening.”
The Ministry of Education has also said virtual learning will still be available next year for families and students who wish to continue to learn from home.
This decision is welcomed, as long as it does not utilize the hybrid model seen in schools this spring, and if its only for the next academic year and not a permanent fixture of education going forward.
“If we are talking about a hybrid model like we did in February, where you are teaching to live students in front of you and simultaneously to students at home, my members are absolutely not interested in that because it is absolutely crushing to their workload,” Seeley said.
“We are pleased on a one year basis for next year that some of our members will have that option and some families will have that option for a variety of reasons,” Judge added. “Ultimately, we are on the record that we believe learning is best taking place in person. The human resources are in place to make that happen.”
