Government counting on infection control measures to keep students safe back in schools

Now they know that classes will be back in session come September, Alberta school leaders and educators must tackle the questions of how.

How will teachers keep students as far apart as possible with all kids returning to often-packed classrooms at once?

How will school divisions pay for cleaning products and custodians, substitute teachers and masks, with limited savings?

How will a school be affected when a student or employee tests positive for COVID-19?

Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling said Tuesday he can't reconcile the orderly picture of pandemic-time schooling painted in provincial guidelines and the reality of life in the hallways.

"They talk about staggered classes and how students come and go at different times, but we're talking about schools that have thousands of children," Schilling said.

On Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney said public health and government officials had looked at the scientific evidence, the data, and other countries' experiences, and concluded Alberta's 780,000 students should head back to classes in person come September.

There will be cases of COVID in schools, Kenney said, but there are also risks to keeping children at home — including deleterious effects to children and parents' wellbeing and the economy.

The announcement also came as the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Alberta is trending upward again.

No new money to adapt to pandemic

Sending kids back to class is what's best for students and parents, Kenney concluded.

"Everybody acknowledges that it's also been a struggle to balance taking care of their school-age children and keeping up with their schoolwork while working from home on their full-time job," he said.

He pointed to a relatively low number of children diagnosed with COVID-19 in Alberta, and some evidence children are not as badly affected by infections.

Daily self-screening by staff and students and their parents will be key in preventing ill people from entering school buildings.

However, schools will receive no new money to tackle the cost of modifying their buildings, following public health guidelines or cleaning the spaces where hundreds of children are set to congregate.

School divisions should draw money from their reserves, Kenney said.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said divisions can also use some of an extra $250 million fast-tracked for school maintenance and improvement projects. Schools could install touch-free soap dispensers, automatic doors or water bottle refill stations, she said.

Edmonton Public Schools has already spent $2.5 million on personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer for just the first few months of the upcoming school year, said board chair Trisha Estabrooks.

Estabrooks said the board will spend millions of extra dollars to adhere to infection prevention measures. She didn't have a precise estimate.

The $26.9 million currently in the school division's reserve fund is supposed to be used to help students learn, Estabrooks said. "To use that money for cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer is just not acceptable in my mind."

Although classes will be cohorted and kept separate as much as possible, and direction markers will line hallways, Estabrooks said following physical distancing guidelines in its more than 200 schools will be the division's greatest challenge. Many class sizes in Edmonton stretched into the 30s and 40s last year.

"How do we set up our classes so that kids can be two metres apart? And I'll be honest, there will be situations where that will not be possible," Estabrooks said.

Opposition wants class size cap

NDP leader Rachel Notley says the question should never have been if government would re-open schools, but how it could be done as safely as possible. 

Without additional government money for custodians, supplies or substitute teachers and staff, the back-to-school plan is too risky, she said.

"Ultimately, Jason Kenney's approach is to cross your fingers, close your eyes and hope that kids don't get that sick. And hope that kids don't transfer it to others," Notley said. "That is not a plan. It is a gamble. He's rolling the dice with the health and safety of Alberta's children."

Notley said international success stories Kenney highlighted included schools with limited class sizes. She wants them capped at 15 this fall. The benefits of hiring more teachers to make it happen is worth the expense, she said.

The Opposition will release a more detailed back-to-school proposal of its own later this week.

Brandi Rai, a parent of five children and president of the Alberta School Councils' Association, said she was grateful for the six weeks of warning so families have time to make decisions about what to do in the fall.

With the absence of a class size cap, Rai is worried about transmission of the virus in schools.

"It's hard to feel completely confident when you're sending your children into a situation that involves some risk," she said.

Unlike other countries with low transmission in school, Alberta's plan does not mandate the use of masks or other protective equipment, she said. She'd like to see leaders actively encourage the use of such gear in schools.

With school budgets already feeling the pinch before the pandemic hit, Rai also worries about how well students with disabilities will be supported when classes resume.

She also wants school divisions to involve parents in their operational re-opening plans, rather than informing them after the fact.

The government on Tuesday published several fact sheets and a parent guide for Alberta's return to in-person classes.

-- With files from Lucie Edwardson