The president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) had harsh words for the premier a day after the federal government announced it would be providing additional financial support to ensure a safe return to school.
“The premier can stand in front of Nova Scotians and say, ‘We’re doing everything you can to keep kids safe.’ No, you’re not,” Wozney said during a Thursday morning news conference.
“It’s not good enough.”
On Wednesday, the federal government announced it would be committing $2 billion to ensure the safe return to school from the coast-to-coast.
Nova Scotia is receiving $47.88 million of those funds, based on the number of students in the province.
Nova Scotia’s premier said the money will go towards cleaning schools, buses and potentially new ventilation systems, but Wozney says nothing is set in stone.
“You just got a cheque that you don’t have to cover,” said Wozney.
“This is special money just for this year to address these concerns, and you don’t even have to pick up the costs. Why are we not going back to the original iteration of Phase 1?”
Wozney made the comments during Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education news conference, which highlighted concerns from teachers and parents heading into the school year.
The press conference heard from four parents and teachers focusing on a long list of concerns, including class sizes, physical distancing, an outbreak plan and communication between government and teachers.
“It’s still not safe for the MLAs to meet in the legislature, it’s still not safe for most of Nova Scotia’s government employees to go back into their office full time,” said Stacey Rudderham, co-chair of Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education.
“So why is it safe for our students to go back without a plan written and presented as to how they’ll respond to an outbreak?”
Wozney is calling on the province to fully deploy the federal money before the first day of classes.
He said that starts with spacing out students.
“Here’s a golden opportunity for that money from Ottawa to pay bills of hurting landlords and business people to use those spaces,” said Wozney.
“We’ve got community facilities, hockey rinks, rec centres, gyms, any number of places that really have not been allowed to operate and conduct traditional programming.”
Wozney said as the school year gets closer, there have been increased calls from parents and teachers to delay the school year. But he said the union has not been given direction to formally call for a delay.
“Delaying a crappy plan is not going to make the plan better,” said Wozney. “There’s no point in asking for extra days if the government is going to double down on a plan you could drive a dump truck through.”
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