As students prepare to return to the classroom in three weeks, some parents are having mixed feelings about the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development not having released its back-to-school plan.
In March 2020, Education Minister Dominic Cardy was quick to shut down schools to help control the spread of COVID-19 — and the province developed a plan for in-school and distance learning for the remainder of the year.
But what will happen this year, as New Brunswick is in the green level of its pandemic plan, remains to be seen.
Global News made two requests to speak with Cardy, but both times was told he would only be available after the plan was released.
Some parents are feeling the pressure.
Jenna Morton, a mother of three elementary-aged children, said not having the plan yet is disheartening. It has placed a lot of anxiety on her and the family.
She said her children attend a relatively small school in Salisbury and that gives her comfort but not having any idea about the rules is a problem.
“I know there are still a lot of variables, but I feel like I could have been a much better approach to helping parents and students manage their anxiety about what’s going to happen,” she said in an interview Tuesday. “I can understand that it’s going to take some time there, is probably still going to change that is going to have to happen but I feel like we’ve been kind of left hanging.”
That sentiment is shared by Moncton father Ian Pert, who said he has been OK with how the province has handled the global pandemic response.
He said he feels the uncertainty of it all is worrisome.
“With the Delta variant spreading and the kids not vaccinated it seems to me that there more of an effect on kids, more of symptomatic response and without a plan, without that assurance of knowing there is a plan … it makes me a lot more worried. I feel more worried this year than I did last year,” he said.
Pert said it will depend on a lot of factors, but he would not hesitate in the event of a large outbreak to take his son out of school.
Others, though, feel confident in the department’s ability to handle the back-to-school rollout given how they handled it in March.
Jackie McLean’s two children are fully vaccinated and said she thinks it is important to send kids back so they can return to some sort of normal.
“I don’t feel a lot of discomfort that this plan isn’t out yet,” she said in an interview. “I’m confident that it’ll be in place by the time school starts. I’m confident the kids will be able to adapt to it. I mean, we’ve had a year of pandemic learning that has really been unprecedented.”
The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development said the plan will be released at the end of this week, and Cardy will be available to the media at that time.
It adds the department is following the ever-changing science to keep students safe this coming school year.