Concern clouds return to class for Outaouais teachers
Quebec elementary schools outside Montreal set to welcome back students May 11
Some teachers in western Quebec say they have serious concerns about the province's decision to reopen elementary schools outside Montreal next month.
The Outaouais is among the regions set to reopen daycares and elementary schools on May 11, but only if hospitalizations from COVID-19 decline or remain stable across Quebec.
Suzanne Tremblay, president of the Syndicat de l'enseignement de l'Outaouais, said teachers in the region are concerned, confused and uncertain about details of the government's plan.
"First of all, we need to have very clear protocols in terms of hygiene. There needs to be protective material for teaching personnel. I think teachers need to have access to that material, need to be protected," Tremblay said in a French-language interview with Radio-Canada on Monday.
Schools need to have adequate supplies of disinfectant, gloves and masks, she said.
Tremblay also said there need to be clear directives about what will happen once a student or teacher gets sick with COVID-19.
Plan to limit class sizes
Quebec Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said planning is underway with principals and front-line staff on how reopening will unfold.
Any student who becomes sick would be pulled from class and authorities would look at whether to close the school, Roberge said.
While classes would be limited to maximum of 15 students and school buses to 24 to help facilitate physical distancing, Tremblay said it's still not clear how that will work.
"Fifteen students in a class two metres apart is a challenge. [Classrooms] are small in the Outaouais," Tremblay said.
Manon Dufour, executive director of Commission scolaire des Draveurs school board, believes principals and staff will be able to make things work in time for the return to class.
"We're building the plane as it flies," she said. "I don't think we're going to do schools like we did two months ago. Things are going to change, but I think we're going to manage. We have good [adaptation] capabilities."
Dufour said her board will be using lessons learned from running emergency child-care centres for essential workers during the pandemic.
"We had seven schools that had [emergency child-care centres] and we were able to do it with reminders," she said.
The education minister said teachers who are older than 60 or have health conditions that put them at particular risk won't have to return to class.
Parents in western Quebec are being urged to contact their children's schools at least a week ahead of reopening so principals, administrators and teachers know how many students are returning. Attendance is not mandatory during the pandemic.
No other schools in the province including high schools, cégeps and universities will reopen to students until at least late August.
