Anger, confusion expressed over school restriction

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This article was published 26/08/2020 (1965 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A day after the Brandon School Division announced that its schools are not subject to the same health restrictions as the surrounding community, stakeholders were upset and confused about the discrepancy.

On Monday, Supt. Marc Casavant announced that while the entirety of the Prairie Mountain Health region is under the stricter “level orange” restrictions, Brandon’s schools are at the less severe “level yellow” restrictions.

He said this was determined in consultation with Manitoba Education and added that some schools within the division same may end up being under different restrictions than each other.

For education, level orange means K-8 students continue to receive in-class lessons, while those in grades 9 to 12 take their classes remotely. In level yellow, schools are open for in-class learning using a cohort system with only some remote learning required.

That announcement by the school division came only four days after Casavant sent an email to parents saying that schools in Prairie Mountain Health were going to be under level orange rules.

The reason for the lower restriction level, according to a written statement provided by a provincial government spokesperson, is that additional restrictions were not felt to be necessary for schools.

“Manitoba’s Pandemic Response System allows for targeted, specific measures and restrictions where needed to help control the spread of COVID-19. Because of the additional measures being implemented within the education system, public health officials have not recommended additional restrictions specific to schools at this time. Manitoba Education has been working closely with Public Health and school divisions to ensure that students are able to return to school as safely as possible.”

Casavant later sent out an email to parents on Tuesday afternoon reiterating that the division is under level yellow but is preparing plans in case they are ordered to move into stricter restrictions.

On the Sun’s Facebook post linking to Tuesday’s article about the code yellow announcement, reactions from readers were comprised of confusion and disbelief.

Speaking to the Sun by phone on Tuesday, Brandon Teachers’ Association president Cale Dunbar said he was caught off-guard by the announcement and that the confusion is making the jobs of teachers and principals preparing for the start of the school year more difficult.

“I’m very confused by (the announcement), to be perfectly honest with you,” Dunbar said. “We’re in uncertain times and that just added another layer of uncertainty to it.”

Dunbar said he wishes his union had been consulted in the creation of any of the plans made up by the province or school division, saying there has been very little communication over the summer.

“I feel they’re caught in a very difficult spot right now,” he said about principals trying to make plans for the return to schools as directives keep changing. “The teachers are planning for the unknown as well, but the principals have a task ahead of them that’s almost impossible.

Allison McCulloch, a Brandon member of education advocacy group Safe September MB and parent of a child entering Grade 9 this fall, said she believes the schools should have to be under the same restrictions as the rest of the community.

“We’ve had three (directives) in the past week that seem to contradict each other,” she said. “We have some real concerns about the numbers in Brandon, of course, with community transmission and this sort of differential treatment for schools versus other public places. If it warrants an orange level for Prairie Mountain, it warrants an orange level for the schools.”

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