The Prince George District Teachers Association (PGDTA) is sounding the alarm bells over the current conditions in BC schools.
In an open letter, to Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, the PGDTA stated the recent surge of COVID-19 cases within Northern Health has led to delays in contact tracing.
Furthermore, the group referenced a bulletin issued by the health authority last week stating a backlog of people who have tested positive for the virus but have not been contacted.
“What is happening that we are not getting the protection we need for our protections, why can’t we get that in a timely manner,” Joanne Hapke, President of PGDTA told MyPGNow.com.
“There was an exposure delivered to a high school for December 1st and 2nd and in the letter that was delivered it said people were asked to self-isolate until December 16th, that was yesterday.”
The District Teachers Association also went on to say in the letter that masks should be made mandatory in all areas of schools as well as a request to slash classroom density to 50%.
Hapke said while a vaccine signals better days ahead, we’re not at that point yet.
“You need to physically distance, that is one of the layers of protection that we are offered as teachers for our personal safety as teachers, physical distancing and wear a mask is the recommendations, well, there is no mandatory mask policy and teachers are unable to physically distance from their students.”
It’s been a tough week for Prince George schools as Heather Park Elementary school was listed for a pair of potential exposure events with December 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 8th as the possible dates of exposure.
Earlier this week, BC Teachers Federation President Teri Mooring was aware of a number of staff members at Heather Park who called in sick this week and awaiting test results related to the virus.
In addition, Westwood Elementary was added to the exposure list on Tuesday with December 8th listed as when a possible exposure occurred.
Yesterday (Wednesday), a letter was sent to MyPGNow.com where students and staff at College Heights Secondary may have been exposed.
The listed dates are December 10th and 11th.
DP Todd also warned of potential exposure during December 1st and 2nd.
Second-Vice-President Katherine Trepanier stated the concerns of teachers are falling of deaf ears.
“Teachers don’t feel like we are being heard. We are hearing schools are safe places to be but it doesn’t matter how many times we are told this, teachers are still not feeling safe.”
“The letter was just an attempt to tell Dr. Henry to listen to what we are trying to say, we are the people who are in this situation and we know what is actually happening in schools.”
The District Teachers Association is also pleading to Dr. Henry that if a student tests positive for COVID-19, the teacher of that class should be included as a close contact.
“If there is a positive case in my classroom, I expect to be considered a close contact. I am the person in charge of that classroom and I am the one who is going to each of these children supporting their learning needs but that includes not being able to maintain our six feet,” added Hapke.
“You find out that a student in your class has tested positive and you haven’t been informed so you are not considered a close contact to that student and any teacher knows that’s not true. You are in close contact with every student in your class, especially if you are in a primary or elementary school setting,” said Trepanier.
In addition, the cohort model, which was rolled out over the summer is being viewed as “deeply flawed”.
“If the cohort measure was protective for students and for staff that is great but we knew that it was not going to work, we knew that it was not going to be effective especially when there are multiple cohorts within our community, so there is a cohort for school, a cohort for hockey, a cohort for dance class so it’s not working.”
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