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Support Our Students’ Alberta’s 12 Points Back to School Plan with Barbara Silva

Author Tee Adeyemo

Published on: August 13, 2020

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They are public education advocates. Their goal is to inform, organise and equip Albertans on strategies to achieve equitable public education. With RADEducators Network and Abdocs4patients, they created a coalition coming up with a 12 point strategy plan for going back to school in September 2020. They are not a political group, they are passionate about public education.

This what they have written on their website:

1. Implementing a variable class size cap for ALL grades (k-12), in a way that relies on physical distancing measures, ensuring that all physical spaces used for learning prioritize the 2m distance mandate. Schools should designate cohorts with staggered entry, lunch, recreational and dismissal times. The ability to physically distance is ESSENTIAL and plays a primary role in mitigating the spread of COVID19.

2. Encouraging masks when child-appropriate and adequate physical distancing is not possible, recognizing that masks are not a sufficient replacement for adequate distance. The decision to require masking must be based on age as well as individual cognitive abilities. Family physicians or paediatricians should provide guidance when the decision is unclear.

3. Address transportation for students to and from school, limiting occupancy to reflect physical distancing mandate (2m), incorporate assigned seating and mandating masks when appropriate.

4. Providing each school with the ability to access expedited testing and results in a turnaround for COVID19. Dedicated access to testing will minimize delays, risk, and unnecessary disruptions in continuity of education.

5. Alberta Education, in conjunction with Alberta Health, must provide all the necessary personal protective equipment(PPE) for education workers, including masks, shields, disinfectant, and thermometers.

6. Establishing clear and transparent protocols for regular screening, positive cases, what defines a school outbreak, and how many positive cases are required for school closure.

7. Cancel all standardized tests at all grades in recognition of the added stress and trauma testing creates for both students and education workers. Understanding also that measuring standards in an anon standard year where the inequity around in-class versus remote learning, and likely frequent disruptions to learning resulting from illnesses and isolation periods will only skew results and magnify inequities. All standardized testing funding should be redirected to Covid19 mitigation resources.

8. Establishing a policy for substitute teachers that minimizes the risk of inter-school transmission.

9. In the event of a scenario change (hybrid or complete remote learning), provide adequate resources for families and education workers unable to properly supervise children. Special considerations for children of essential care workers and students with complex needs.

10. Reducing community transmission locally prior to school reopening as well as on-going intensive community COVID19 mitigation is essential to protecting schools.

11. Committing to the health and safety of Alberta students and education workers during a pandemic as the first priority by providing provincial funding to support every public school in meeting these criteria, recognizing the support needed will vary by school.

12. Acknowledging that the start of school can and should be delayed until the resources and parameters for a safer school relaunch itemized above can be secured equitably across Alberta.

Are you a parent? Will you allow your kids to resume in September? Do you feel safe about the Back to School Plan?

Send us your thoughts about what you are going to do: lccmedialimited@gmail.com

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Support Our Students’ Alberta’s 12 Points Back to School Plan with Barbara Silva

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