The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is calling on Saskatchewan Minister of Education Dustin Duncan and the Saskatchewan government to immediately reinstate COVID-19 public health measures in schools.
In a release from STF on Monday, the federation cites the latest COVID-19 wastewater data from the University of Saskatchewan as being a concern as it shows an alarming increase of 742 per cent in Saskatoon.
Data for North Battleford and Prince Albert also show surges of 250 per cent and 56 per cent.
“Saskatchewan educators want to be in schools along with their students, teaching and learning in a safe environment,” said Patrick Maze, STF president.
“These new wastewater results are alarming and need to be taken seriously,” he added.
Maze continues on to say that the province has a responsibility to keep students, staff and the greater community safe.
“Our health system is over capacity and health-care workers are stressed. We need to ensure that those who are ill receive the assistance they need in a timely way,” he said.
Maze also said by reintroducing these “basic and minimal health measures,” fewer people will require hospitalization and schools can continue to operate safely.
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The federation is calling for a number of COVID-19 measures to be reinstated, such as mandatory masks in schools, on school buses and for extracurricular activities, along with the isolation requirement for those who test positive and are close contacts.
The federation is also asking for increased transparency and data sharing with schools on COVID-19 cases, increased reporting on cases to the public, in order for parents to make informed decisions and exercise personal responsibility, access to PCR testing for teachers and all student-facing school staff.
In addition, the STF wants to reconvene the Education Sector Response Planning Team to ensure the successful and consistent implementation of measures.
“Students have already sacrificed so much. It is time to prioritize and protect their needs,” Maze said.
“We cannot wish COVID-19 away. Learning to live with COVID-19 must mean learning to take appropriate and reasonable measures when the situation calls for them,” he said.
“The government’s decisions have left us with very limited data available to assess the risk in our communities.”
STF said that absenteeism is currently unusually high for teaching staff and students. It adds, there is also a lack of available substitute teachers.
The federation added that if the government continues to “ignore the reality in communities and classrooms,” and fails to introduce basic health measures, it will urge school divisions to “fulfil their obligations” and to exercise their authority to protect students’ access to education, along with the health of students and staff.
The province’s health order mandating mask usage, as well as mandatory isolation after testing positive, expired on Feb. 28 and in early February the province said it had no intentions to extend it.
At the legislature on Tuesday, Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said reinstating COVID measures in schools is not something the province is currently considering, although he is encouraging people to wear masks if they want to.
However, Maze says the government needs to be doing more in order to protect Saskatchewan residents, especially those in schools.
In an interview with Global News, Maze said he wouldn’t be surprised if the province’s reply to their ask was more or less a deafening no, given their track record on dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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