The Edmonton Public School Board will be reaching out to Alberta’s chief medical officer of health (CMOH) for advice on how to deal with a surge of illness in its schools.
During a board meeting Tuesday morning, trustees voted in favour of writing a letter to the CMOH requesting thresholds to determine when additional health protocols, including mandatory isolation periods and masking, should be put in place for schools.
The discussion comes as absenteeism in Edmonton Public Schools exceeded 13 per cent on Nov. 7. In addition, more than 150 of EPSB’s 218 schools have met or exceeded the 10 per cent absentee threshold for contacting Alberta Health Services.
The rates are due to a trifecta of illnesses spreading in the community: the flu, RSV and COVID-19.
“We need guidance from our chief medical officer of health,” said Trustee Saadiq Sumar. “We’re a bit behind in getting this information from health authorities.
“The numbers are concerning, so we need to act.”
“I am concerned about kids right now too. I think we all are,” board chair Trisha Estabrooks said, adding school boards across Alberta need clarity.
Supt. Darrel Robertson said the latest information he has as of Tuesday morning is that 64 schools have been on outbreak status this month, and AHS is working with additional schools to determine if they have reached outbreak status.
“We are seeing more sickness, obviously, and I think that has heightened anxiety from lots of folks,” Robertson said. “What we’re experiencing right now is not good.”
Robertson also pointed out that the school board was dealing with slightly higher absenteeism at this time last year.
In addition, the board is asking that when schools are on outbreak status that the CMOH and government of Alberta reinstate safety protocols such as masking, and other previously implemented measures like providing COVID-19 test kits to families, to help reduce the spread of illness in schools.
Robertson said the school board has been recommending masks to families since the beginning of the school year, but added people have the choice to wear one or not.
“We really do require the CMOH’s guidance on what is reasonable for us to mandate in our schools,” Robertson said, adding he is not a medical expert. “This issue (of masking) is so divisive in the community that it makes it, practically speaking, a challenge for schools to enforce in the absence of health orders.
“I do very much rely on the medical experts to be able to provide us the guidance necessary.
“It doesn’t matter how you feel about masking… all of us want to be safe. All of us share that core value of wanting to make sure our families, our friends are happy and healthy.”
During a news conference Monday, Premier Danielle Smith said her government will not mandate masks in schools.
Smith said anyone who wants to wear a mask is free to do so, adding it’s a personal choice.
“We’re not going to be mandating masks,” Smith said Monday. “We’ve heard loud and clear from parents that they want a normal school environment for their kids and we’re going to let kids be kids.
“Health decisions are the purview of the health minister with advice from who he needs to seek advice from. I will make sure — and I’ve been talking with the justice minister about that — that we retain the full authority to be offering that advice at the provincial level.”
Lindsey Switzer is a mother of two teenage girls with a rare disease called labrune syndrome, a degenerative and terminal disorder.
Switzer’s 18-year-old daughter Ayva isn’t as impacted by the disease as 15-year-old Halla, who is now considered palliative.
The girls aren’t enrolled in Edmonton Public Schools — they attend high school within the Elk Island Public School district. However, their mother would like to see mandatory masking come back to classrooms.
“Her biggest thing that she wants to do is go to school because she loves her friends and she loves being just a regular kid going to school and just kind of being social,” Switzer said of Halla.
Due to her condition, Switzer estimates Halla has been to school for only about five days since September.
“Halla’s medical team feels if she were to get an infection right now, her body would not be able to fight it off. So we’ve been really cautious of that and who we’re around,” Switzer said. “It makes me just not want to leave the house. I want to just put her in a bubble. And how fair is that to her? And to people who get to enjoy her?”
Switzer said messaging from officials to let kids be kids is sending a “really poor message.”
“There are really vulnerable kids that need to be protected by those kids who are able to wear a mask and still have a really normal, typical year,” she said. “I think we’re forgetting about the people that don’t have that choice. And it’s a much bigger population of people that are just not considered. So that’s the importance. I strongly believe if there were precautions in the schools Halla would be sitting there.
“Put a mask on. Let kids — all the kids — enjoy a typical year, which is now our new typical.”
Infectious diseases expert Dr. Craig Jenne said there is a substantial amount of virus in the community and a lot of transmission occurring. Something has to be done to slow the viral transmission to allow kids to get back into the classrooms, he said.
“What we’ve seen is very clear over the last two years that masking plays a substantial role in reducing viral transmission, particularly when we are talking about indoor spaces where people are together for extended periods of time, and in places where ventilation may not be optimal,” Jenne said.
“Their efficacy is not in question and it’s a little curious as to why we are not encouraging these really simple things to do, particularly when we think about things such as RSV where we do not have a vaccine option.”
Dr. James Talbot, an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta and former chief medical officer of health, said regardless of what the government says, families have the ability to make their own health decisions for their kids.
“If they choose to have the kids wear masks and go to school, you know, with instructions not to pass it on to their friends and not to bring it back home — whether it’s influenza or COVID — then they should do that,” Talbot said.
“They also have the opportunity for two of those viruses — influenza and COVID — to get vaccines. So they should definitely do that.
“I think schools — the boards, the principals need to take a hard look at workplace safety, to take a look at how to protect their teachers, the teachers’ aides, volunteers that work in schools and make sure that masks are available and that if they’re not mandated to be strongly recommended for everybody who works there.
“We’re going to fight this battle in the schools now. But if we lose, we will be fighting it in the emergency rooms in the ICU two weeks from now.”
Shift to online learning
Questions were also asked Tuesday about how close the board is to shifting schools to online learning. Robertson said the decision to shift to online learning is a “significant decision,” but added EPBS hasn’t yet reached a situation where schools need to make the shift to online learning.
“It is incredibly disruptive to families,” he acknowledged, but added “if we need to transition a school to online temporarily in the middle of an outbreak, I will do that without hesitation.”
Robertson said there are no automatic triggers that would shift a school to online learning, but said staffing levels are an important factor. He pointed out that the board has had unfilled supply jobs over the past few months, but said the teacher fill rate is well into the high 90 per cent rate.
“Our commitment is to continue to monitor, do our best… So far we’ve been OK. But I want to reiterate it’s not ideal,” Robertson said.
Other measures taken by school board to prevent illness
Robertson said there are many other measures in place throughout schools that will help keep students, teachers and staff safe. These include cleaning and disinfecting protocols, sick rooms for kids who develop symptoms at school and encouraging hand washing.
Robertson applauded students and their families for keeping kids at home when they’re sick.
In addition, Robertson said the board has installed, where possible, MERV 13 filtration systems in schools. Where that hasn’t been possible, portable HEPA units have been installed to help improve air quality. He said all educational spaces have some sort of air filtration in place. This work cost the school board around $6 million, Robertson said.
The board also voted in favour of requesting a meeting with the CMOH, minister of health and minister of education to discuss the surge of illness in Edmonton Public Schools.
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