Prince George teachers who have been utilizing online tools to create virtual classrooms during the pandemic will still be connecting electronically to some students when schools resume face-to-face, part-time instruction for the final month of the school year.
Starting June 1, students across the province will have the option to return to their schools but there will be no on-line webcasts of those classroom activities for students who choose not to go back to school.
“We’ve been very clear, we will not be doing both at one time, it’s just impossible,” said Joanne Hapke, president of the Prince George District Teachers Association. “(Education Minister Rob Fleming) has been very clear, that the remote learning is going to look much different from what parents have come to expect since March 30th.
“It will be less, because as teachers are in classrooms more we can’t be both. It’s irresponsible to expect us to be supporting students on-site and at the same time be online with students. That’s not safe and that is not good educational practice either.”
With staggered class times and classes split into two groups, Hapke said it will be difficult for elementary teachers in the lower grades (kindergarten-Grade 5) to keep those classes together for the recommended two or three days per week of classroom instruction. Grades 6-12 classrooms will be even more dispersed with just one day per week of in-class time for each student who chooses to return for the month of June.
Teachers with health concerns such as an immune-compromised system or chronic medical condition who are concerned about contracting the virus will have the right to apply for an exemption which would allow them to continue online teaching only or take a leave of absence for the rest of the school year. The ministry will also make concessions to teachers over 60 years of age and will consider other teacher requests on a case-by-case basis.
“Today (Education Minster Rob Fleming) clearly stated that teachers who meet the conditions will receive accommodations so we will be working with the school district to make sure that teachers get the accommodations that are required,” said Hapke. “But for the most part, the majority of our work force will be returning. They’ve been flexibly returning this week and will be on site over the next two weeks preparing for students returning on June 1st.”
After six weeks of having the choice to either work from home or from their respective schools, teachers were asked by the province to return to their school workplaces on Monday. Hapke admits there are some teachers who won’t be coming back in June over concerns for their own safety and that of their families.
“Even though the ministry is saying the district must adhere to safety protocols, will they actually be fulfilled and do we have enough custodians to make sure the cleaning protocols that were agreed to will be upheld - there is a lot anxiety” she said.
“Teachers are concerned about what we are going to take home to our families because we do have parents living with us and young children living in our home. If you live with someone who is immune-compromised or receiving cancer treatment should you be receiving an accommodation to work from home because they are a vulnerable member of our society and that needs to be recognized.”
Hapke admits B.C. has been one of the first provinces to flatten the curve of new COVID cases but the risk remains. As of Friday there have been just 58 cases and no deaths from the virus reported in the Northern Health region.
“There have been deaths in our province and the concern will always be with us because of the unknown of what is out there and providing safe environments for our family members,” she said. “Teachers are excited to see students but our safety for our families kind of outweighs that. It’s difficult right now because we want to be with our students and we want to spend the time with them but it’s just so unknown right now.
“I’m sure our confidence will increase the more we are in classrooms or things are going to explode and we’ll stand back and say that shouldn’t have happened, that’s an experiment that went wrong.”
Schools will have the next two weeks to develop schedules to bring students back to their schools but won’t be able to finalize those plans until the numbers of returning students are known.
“Over the next week the school district will be touch with families to talk about what that’s going to look like for their children in terms of their school and we’ll start to see what families will be sending their children back for June 1st,” said School District 57 board chair Tim Bennett.
“We do have a collective agreement with our teachers and we’ll need to ensure we are adhering to what was agreed upon in the collective agreement. We’ve heard from the minister that the continuation of learning will be available either in our buildings or online, so we’ll need to work with our teachers to ensure there’s a sustainable way for that continuity of learning to happen for all students.”
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