Brampton mayor and Peel medical officer respond to teacher union, trustee concerns over return to class

Bramptonguardian.com
Jan. 14, 2022

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Peel's medical officer of health, Dr. Lawrence Loh, have responded to concerns raised by one of Ontario's teacher unions and trustees at a local school board about the return to in-person learning starting next week.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) issued a statement on Jan. 12 shortly after Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce outlined additional “layers of protection” with students slated to return to class on Monday, Jan. 17. Trustees at the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) also penned a letter to Lecce voicing similar concerns.

Brown and other city mayors called on the Ford government to reopen schools after the province decided to pause the return to school for two weeks following the holidays.

“The fact that we have pediatric physicians across the province highlighting detrimental effects that outweigh what could be minimal risk in the classroom is something that has to be considered. And I believe the province made the right call in returning children to class,” Brown told reporters during a press briefing.

The mayor added that Ontario has seen more lost school days due to the pandemic than any other province or state in North America.

“There is a cost to that, and if other provinces and other states can find a way to have children safely in school, then we can too in Ontario,” Brown said.

The ETFO outlined their concerns and several recommendations in a news release.

“The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario is cautious about the province’s new safety measures, and calls on the Ford government to respond to concerns that remain unaddressed,“ read the release.

The concerns listed included:

- A lack of monitoring and reporting of COVID-19 cases and outbreaks.

- Absence of a “robust” testing program that includes PCR testing for students and staff.

- Low vaccination rates for children 5-11 and widespread vaccine hesitancy among parents of students in that age group.

- Lack of a concrete plan to address anticipated increases of staff absences.

- The short time frame for education workers to be prioritized and receive boosters.

The full release and list of concerns and recommendations can be viewed on the ETFO website at www.etfo.ca.

DPCDSB trustees voiced many of the same concerns in their joint letter to Lecce, which was posted to Twitter by trustee Frank Di Cosola.

“The DPCDSB has a long-standing practice of reaching out to the various stakeholder groups impacted by decisions to inform policy, procedures and practices. The DPCDSB has the same expectation of our elected provincial government, which includes our Minister of Education,” the letter read.

Loh also responded to the union and trustees concerns while highlighting that the situation is very different than in previous waves of the virus.

“It’s important for me to highlight the facts. The reality is that we are in a vastly different context with a vastly different variant from where school closures were previously affected in Region of Peel and throughout Ontario,” he said. “We now have a large, highly vaccinated adult population (and) we also have many children -- a significant proportion of our secondary students and a growing proportion of our 5-11 (age group) -- that have brought on protection.”

Loh added the Omicron variant has proven more mild than previous strains of COVID-19 in those who are fully vaccinated.

“At this point, it actually changes the overall risk calculus in terms of having children on online learning versus having children in person with the measures that are there,” he said, adding he believes mental health risks for children being out of school currently outweigh the risk of COVID in the classroom.