Notes from a Pandemic: Why a safe return to school in Ontario should be the priority

Something is making my heart ache today.

I’ve been following the Twitter posts of a variety of scientific, medical, and educational experts of late. I’ve been watching the various news conferences that come out from Ontario’s Ministry of Education. I’ve been watching the parents who are wise (and emotionally torn) enough to know that they need to “follow the science” and their hearts at the same time. I’ve been watching the slew of people who bash teachers coming out of the woodwork on social media, and I’ve been watching other educators worry and fret about how best to ensure a safe return to schools this fall. What I hadn’t expected to read was a heartbreaking Tweet from a student, Isaiah Towers, who lives in the catchment area of the Limestone District School Board (which includes areas like Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington).

Here’s what Isaiah wrote: “As a student, I can confirm I’m terrified. So are a majority of students. Personally, I feel like I’m getting sent back to die. But if I don’t go my education will slip even more.” He was responding to a parent’s tweet, responding to an adult who is advocating for a safe return to school. He was saying out loud what so many kids must be thinking. I don’t know Isaiah personally, but…as a teacher…I know Isaiah is just one of thousands of young Ontarians who are really afraid and worried right now, and who are looking for adult leadership in a crisis.

So. Here’s the thing. We need to listen to Isaiah’s voice above other voices.

We don’t need to listen to Doug Ford’s voice, or Stephen Lecce’s voice, or the voices of our various Board of Education Directors and Superintendents, or the voices of Trustees. If we wait to listen to those voices, the voices that are embedded within a power structure that is already archaic and mostly colonial and patriarchal in its historic origins, then…well…we aren’t really listening to Isaiah, are we? And we definitely aren’t listening to our students’ or our children’s deepest worries. This won’t be a popular opinion, maybe, but I sort of think it doesn’t matter anymore. I know other teachers are likely thinking similar thoughts…or I hope they are.

What matters, then? The safety of Ontario’s children. That’s it. That’s what matters at the core of it all. Some will say, “Oh, you’re a teacher, so you’re lazy, and you’re not wanting to teach, and you get paid way too much, and you get summers off, and this is just another way to avoid doing your job.” Those are some of the voices who will always be there. They’ve been there for decades, but their voices have been steadily increasing with each and every passing year. I’m not sure why, to be honest, because the career of being an educator at the elementary or secondary level of study these days–anywhere across North America, I’d venture a guess–is more complex now than it’s ever been.

Teachers don’t just “deliver curriculum,” but we also serve as role models, as pseudo-parents for those kids who come from abusive homes, and as social workers for those children who might not have enough to eat at home, or who might be self-harming due to mental health issues. We’re called upon to do things that our predecessors never did. Still, teachers do what needs to be done, and often without a parade or any kind of fanfare. Teachers, you see, aren’t in it for the money. If you ask any teacher why they initially entered into the profession, you’ll likely hear that it’s because they love to learn, that they’re curious, that they’re interested in the world around them, that they like to ask questions and think, and–here it comes, now…get ready for the truth–that they love to be around kids, even if they don’t have kids of their own.

If we get caught up in that “teacher bashing” mess, though, which most teachers have put up with for a very long time, then we’ll miss the forest for the trees. If the ‘trees’ in this case are the bashers (for lack of a better phrase), then the ‘forest’ is made up of our kids. Yup. They’re “our kids,” even if they go home to your house and you’re called ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad.’ They’re “our kids,” too.

So…let’s talk about protecting our ‘forest,’ then…just for a little bit.

If we look at Premier Ford’s “plan” to return to school, which was released last week, and which is based–in a very wobbly fashion–on the Sick Kids report, we can see that parts have been addressed and parts have been avoided. The parts that have been avoided, it seems to me, are the parts that are the most important…and the most expensive to address. Funny how that works, eh? Easier to say you support a ‘plan’ you’ve created, based on a medical report, when you can pick and choose which pieces work best. Then, fast forward to yesterday, and a reference by Premier Ford that begins to discount the ‘plan’ to return safely in September, the very plan that was his party’s last week. “It’s not our plan…I’d be nervous if my kids were back in school…The other thing is they don’t have to put their kids in school.”  This is back pedalling of the highest order, if you ask me. Whose plan is it? And, let’s be honest…it’s not a plan…so….where exactly is the plan?

No one likes a pandemic. I hate it. No one wants to be in a tiny bubble. We’re meant to be social creatures. This virus takes away what most makes us human, which is touch and gathering together, so that’s brutal. Absolutely so. But…what this virus does physically to people, in terms of how it affects a person’s health, is terrifying. It’s a shape shifter, I’d say, and the longer we muck through this mess, the results of scientific and medical studies that are coming out from around the world seem to be stranger and stranger. Children aren’t meant to be isolated. We know that. We know they do better when they’re in school, socializing and learning with kids their own age. This is true. Of course it’s not ideal that they’ve had to struggle with online learning. Nothing about a pandemic is ideal.

And, it’s not ideal that this pandemic has hit women, single parents, and those who are parts of marginalized groups, the hardest. COVID-19 has shown us where our failings are, as humans–in terms of equality, in terms of compassion, and in terms of our privilege. Our experience in Canada varies from other countries around the world, and our experience within our communities varies, too. If we own houses, we likely have a yard to escape into. If we live in low-income high-rises in larger urban centres, though, the pandemic has played out very differently.

You only need to look to the cases of school re-openings around the world, in recent weeks, to see what’s worked and hasn’t worked. You can look to cases in Montreal, in Israel, and–sadly–in two weeks’ time, likely most of America, as well. You can figure in that COVID-19 is more airborne than we’d thought it was initially, when we were all panicky and buying things in bulk. Then, back then, we thought it was only transmitted through touch. Now, thanks to the hard work of scientists around the world, we know it’s more about airborne transmission. It’s how we’ve come to know that masks help to reduce transmission. It’s how we’ve come to know that social distancing is key. It’s how Canada has managed to flatten the curve, in that we know we have a social responsibility to one another, and to those groups of people who are most at risk of being negatively affected by this virus.

This ‘plan,’ for a return to school, isn’t at all clear. It puts students, as well as all education workers–including principals, vice-principals, teachers, secretaries, cleaning staff, bus drivers, and cafeteria staff–at risk. Each and every one of those people in Ontario is at risk.  All four teaching unions put out a joint statement last week. The Ontario Principals’ Council put out a statement last week. None of them is saying that the Sick Kids report is wrong. It’s fine. But…the Sick Kids report is suggesting that a safe return to school means that Boards ensure smaller class sizes (call them ‘cohorts’ or whatever fancy word you want, but it’s just about making classes smaller in size). This means that Boards across the province are now scrambling to sort it out over the next three weeks. They’re trapped between a rock and a hard place.

You see, if you reduce class sizes, especially after the recent cuts to teaching positions in Ontario over the last two years, then you need to hire more teachers, and you need to find more space in which to hold classes. All of this means you need to invest more money into the places where it really touches kids. You need to re-imagine education in a way that allows teachers to teach in community spaces that could be rented to school boards. You need to think outside the box of a system that still works on the premise upon which it was founded, which, if you study the history of education in Ontario means that the patriarchal and colonial structure we’ve inherited might not work in the face of a pandemic. This might actually be the best and most opportune time to be creative in reimagining how education works at the elementary and secondary level. That’s a whole other blog, and there are lots of other people who know much more about this particular notion.

What we need for the fall, though–and that means it could be a later start than September, if people really do want a “safe start” for kids and education workers–is smaller class sizes at both levels of study, physically distanced classes, alternative teaching spaces, better ventilation in schools, and PPE for education workers. And, yes, we need students to wear masks, too. It is, for now, for these times, what will help us to ensure everyone’s safety.

This is a long blog. If you’ve read through it all, thanks for that. If you’re a parent, know that teachers worry as much about your kids as you do. If you’re a teacher, know that we’re likely all as worried and freaked out, but just don’t know what to do. If you’re a principal or vice-principal, God, I don’t know…thank you for trying to guide the staff in your schools in an uncertain and anxious time. If you’re in a school board office, I don’t envy you your role, either. You have to ensure the safety of thousands of people under you, on your watch. You have to dance a difficult dance between the Ministry, and unions, and teachers, and parents, and students. That’s a huge responsibility. I wouldn’t want it, but I know you’ll try your best to make it safe for all of us under you. I know this because…you were once classroom teachers, too, even if you aren’t now. I know you won’t forget those early days, even if you’re in big fancy offices with name plates now. I know you love kids as much as we all do.

If you’re in the Ministry of Education…and you’ve never been a teacher…you shouldn’t be there right now. If you’re meeting by Zoom, and you don’t want to sit in a class of 28 kids during the fall cold and flu season, then you shouldn’t be there now. But…if you are there now…then it’s incumbent upon you to make sure our kids are safe. It’s incumbent upon you to make sure Isaiah, and all of the thousands of kids across Ontario, are safe. If that means putting more money into health and safety measures that actually show up in the lives of classroom teachers across Ontario, then that’s what you need to figure out.

We have three weeks. People can get creative. The money needs to be there, though, or else we’re looking at kids in classrooms that aren’t socially distanced, and we’re looking at teachers and education workers falling ill when they don’t need to, and we’re looking at community spread, and we’re looking at hospitals that will be over run when they don’t need to be. The bubbles…won’t matter at all…and we’ll see how that plays out in a very terrifying way.

I just hope…we can all be together on this one thing. The Isaiahs of this province deserve our best because–guess what?–we’re the adults here. We need to step up to make it a safe return, even if it’s staggered or different from what it usually looks like. The old Sears catalogue photo of kids in plaid skirts and maroon shaded cardigans just won’t do it this year.

peace,

k.