High school students leave Beal Secondary School in London, Ont., on March 13 on their last day of classes before the school was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We must reach for something larger when schools reopen
Minister Stephen Lecce said recently that we need to re-imagine a better approach for our students and our collective future. I agree with him. But we need to include teachers, education workers, parents and students in that process, and engage in deep listening to those who have thus far been ignored.
High school students leave Beal Secondary School in London, Ont., on March 13 on their last day of classes before the school was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When kids go back to school, things are going to be different. It’s time to talk about the new normal — and new funding needs — for our children’s education.
Now that the Ontario government has finally made the school closure call that most Ontarians expected, it’s time to reject the notion that a return to “what was” is good enough when we examine the lessons we are learning from the virus crisis period in education.
From the logistics of busing students to the placement of desks to assure proper distance to the availability of protective gear, screening for symptoms, and student and teacher movement between classes, there is much to figure out. We need to ensure that we are clear about the state of the old normal and make a genuine commitment to a collaborative, “all hands-on-deck” approach — like the kind proposed by People for Education — to create a new and better normal, going forward.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Pre-pandemic, the fact is that we have been living with a chronically underfunded public education system. Some schools do without a full-time custodian, and our system’s capital repair backlog — from leaky roofs to no hot water in bathrooms to lead pipes — has ballooned to $16.3 billion over the past two decades.
How do we prioritize cleaning, maintenance and repair issues, and train already overworked staff in infection control? Where will the PPE come from? However ironic, the minister who was leading a charge to increase class sizes is now talking about the possibility that classes might need to be smaller when schools open to accommodate distancing.
Cash-strapped boards will be looking closely at this year’s per-student funding allocation, expected any day now, to see if the government will provide them with the resources to meet the challenges created by this pandemic. Failing to come through with the funding to make this all happen would be to compound the impact COVID-19’s shutdown has had on children throughout the province.
But beyond these issues loom other lessons that we ignore at our students’ peril. The social and emotional toll of social distancing, loss of income and adapting to remote learning has generated real and lasting anxiety for so many. I hear from many parents who carry the burden of fear regarding their ability to cope, supporting their children, while trying to support themselves. The spectre of a “reopened economy” means another stressful pressure on parents.
The COVID-19 experience has pulled back the curtain for more to see, and understand, the devastating education inequities that stand in the way of better outcomes for Ontario’s extraordinarily diverse students and families. What will our children remember when they look back on this time? Did we save lives? Hopefully. Did we learn from our mistakes? We must. Did we once and for all acknowledge that the old “normal’ wasn’t working for too many? Did we create a learning environment that tapped into, and supported, the interests of our students to become evidence-informed change-makers for that better future?
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Key to seizing this moment will be a willingness to create uncommon collaboration among and between front-line educators and those who lead and support them — students, parents, experts, community leaders and political leadership. We must reach for something larger and better than the sum of our short-term and narrow interests.
Minister Stephen Lecce said recently that we need to re-imagine a better approach for our students and our collective future. I agree with him. But we need to include teachers, education workers, parents and students in that process, and engage in deep listening to those who have thus far been ignored. The times require nothing less.
Marit Stiles is the MPP for Davenport and the NDP education critic.
