Support staff at a special needs school in Toronto have begun a work stoppage after expressing their concern for a lack of COVID-19 safety precautions.
In a letter sent to parents and subsequently shared with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Monday, the principal from Beverley School said staff have “exercised their right to being a work refusal process.”
“This process involves the TDSB and the Ministry of Labour discussing concerns with the impacted staff to come to a resolution,” said Danjela Malobabic.
TDSB spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz said 22 educational assistants are not working and that six or seven administrators from other schools have been brought in. Teachers remain in school.
The educational assistants are under the CUPE union and Schwartz-Maltz said union representatives are at the school discussing the situation with the board.
Schwartz-Maltz said educational assistants have had concerns about students taking off their masks and also taking off the assistants’ face shields. She also said parents would like there to be rapid testing deployed at the school, as well.
“The parents are basically devastated at the prospect of maybe the school closing down,” said parent council co-chair Nicole Payette-Kyryluk. “Everybody feels like their children have the right to an education … it’s so important for them to be going to school on a regular basis.”
Payette-Kyryluk said in March when students weren’t allowed to attend school that many of them began to “deteriorate.”
“A lot of them, it’s the social aspect for them … if they don’t socialize with others, they tend to deteriorate also,” she said. “Many kids are non-verbal so they need to learn how to communicate. And as parents, it’s hard to teach them, we don’t have the skill set or the expertise to be able to teach the children.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Ontario parents, children dealing with stress of virtual learning
There are no known cases of COVID-19 at the school, Malobabic said, and at this time, the school will “remain open to provide in-person learning in cases where students with special education needs cannot be accommodated with remote learning.”
Payette-Kyryluk told reporters the parents have such a great deal of respect for the teachers and educational assistants who work with their children, saying Beverley School is a “really special school.”
“The fact that they’re concerned for their safety, I support that. If they don’t feel safe, we want to find out why and see how we can support them,” she said, adding she feels a lot of the staffs’ concerns are due to the fact they feel they potentially can’t keep the children safe.
“If they’re tested on a regular basis then at least this way, we can prevent something turning into an outbreak,” Payette-Kyryluk said, alluding to the need for rapid testing at the school.
Payette-Kyryluk said she was in touch with her local councillor, however, was told it is the call of the provincial government to deploy rapid testing and/or vaccine priority, which is another thing the co-chair brought up.
“Minister Elliott, Minister Lecce please don’t take so much time, let’s get on this, let’s get the tests here today,” she said. “I know you guys can do it because you’ve done it before.”
Earlier in January, staff of students with special needs had raised their concerns about returning to in-class learning.
The Ontario government said the decision to allow for in-person learning to resume for those with special needs was made at the recommendation of experts.
The education ministry said students with special needs can benefit from the routine and consistency of learning in-person and noted that their return to physical classrooms comes with “strong health and safety measures.”
“We have followed that advice, supported by the chief medical officer of health, to ensure a small number of the most exceptional children can receive the care they desperately need,” said ministry spokeswoman Caitlin Clark.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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