Doug Ford claims that he has done everything to make Ontario's schools safe -- everything except reducing class sizes. Bruce Arthur writes:
It is a little odd, though, that Doug has been saying this for a few weeks, during which time the back-to-school plan has changed approximately 37 times. And strangely, those changes have not included provincially mandated class-size reductions.
“You wanted ventilation, we got ventilation,” said Ford, still talking to the teachers unions. “You wanted more money for the teachers, we got more money for the teachers; we went out and got the reserves. We went and got the cleaning. We’ve basically covered every single list. And I’m just asking, just once, for your co-operation.”
Well, the HVAC improvement money came a few weeks before school starts, which is almost certainly too late, and probably insufficient. And the much-ballyhooed announcement of $500 million of reserves didn’t really reduce class sizes in any across-the-board way, because even when school boards are creative, tapping what are often already-committed reserves isn’t the same as new money. Even the new federal money hasn’t resulted in mandated lower class sizes.
We know that the number of people who gather in groups effects transmission:
According to modelling from the universities of Waterloo and Guelph, the difference between 15 kids per class in school full time and 30 would be 14 expected COVID-19 cases in the former, versus 53 in the latter, and over four times as many lost student days. And, presumably, more secondary infections.
But reducing class sizes has never been in the Ford playbook. In fact, when he took office, Doug wanted to go in the opposite direction:
As NDP education critic Marit Stiles notes, this is the government that was interested in cutting public education at the start of its term, and has thought about pushing public money to private charter and voucher schools. And it’s the same government that tried to push class sizes from 22.5 to 28 last fall so it could fire teachers. This appears to be an ideological line.
It's strange how some people ignore what is painfully obvious. Hello?
Image: iHeartRadio
8 comments:
Over the last week or two I've wondered if the resurgence of Covid-19 in so many countries doesn't evidence the arrival of the dreaded "second wave" of the pandemic.
The 20 somethings and 30 somethings, along with the conspiracy theory/anti-vaxxer crowd, appear to have been instrumental in the upsurge of the virus.
What most infuriates me is that the sacrifice our communities made during the lockdown to drive Covid numbers down (we had the better part of two months without a case here on the island) was nullified by the 'hooligans of summer'. The self-isolation, the social distancing, wearing masks, seemingly endless handwashing came with costs as people were laid off, businesses shuttered, government treasuries emptied to fund relief programmes and then the good that we achieved was undone.
Now, with our young people being returned to the classrooms that coincides with a resurgence of the pandemic. Make no mistake, getting those kids back into classrooms is not about their education. It's about getting their moms and dads back in the office or the factory or the warehouse. This decision is based on the economy and weighs the prospects of both physical and emotional damage to those kids against GDP.
We're not flying blind in this situation, Mound. We know something about this virus. And we know what public health policies are required. But we -- or at least some of us -- don't give a damn. And that insouciance will cause more unnecessary suffering.
.. Doug Ford is a capable self fluffer like Kenney & Harper.. and Main Media just sucks n blows in harmony.. Its like Gospel Hour in the OK Corral..or Washington DC.. Hellelujah & Kumbaya.. shaken, not stirred.. don't spare the vodka or the gin.. Everything is Wonderful In Its Own Time.. Mrs Elliott and Mr Lecce as background for some odd reason.. when cardboard cutouts would be just as wondrous
Doug enjoys the spotlight, sal -- unless he's booed in public.
On the other hand, where we have virtually zero cases of Covid-19 here in the Atlantic bubble, the same hysteria prevails as if we were living in Southern Ontario. All not helped by lurid MSM tales of the worst excesses of Ontario, Alberta and BC, not to mention the excesses of Quebec. The teachers and their union are screaming bloody blue murder about the NS plan for returning to school as if the province were a Covid hot spot. It isn't, and you can't catch the virus if none is about. What has happened is that returning university students and some foreign "essential" workers are bringing the virus in when it does occur, and are being isolated pdq, so far as is known.
It's been three months since we were allowed to have social bubbles of ten non-family friends, which for most has meant an almost normal lifestyle. We do have mask rules for all public spaces, however. No increase in community spread has been noted with this relaxation, despite several instances of overcrowded beaches in what has been a scorching summer and perilously close to drought conditions.
One would have thought teachers might have noticed this lack of Covid-19, and managed to actually note how lucky we are, and how unlike Ontario we are. But despite repeated press conferences with our Chief PHO reminding everyone of the facts, teachers have decided that it is as dangerous living in Hectanooga as in crowded Southern Ontario, fed and egged on by a credulous MSM media, whose employees mainly live in the only real Canada, the GTA. It's ridiculous how some parents and many teachers here have thereby hypnotized themselves with thought transference into believing they live somewhere else.
I have several acquaintances who were deemed essential workers and have been on the "frontline" meeting the public since mid-March. These are not minimum wage folks by any stretch. They did their bit, they bit the bullet, they were not infected nor do they know anyone who has been. At my bubble coffee club meeting this morning, the two expounded on their unhappiness with the teachers stance. So, as our premier has said, it's back to school on Tuesday, and let's use the leeway we've gained to perfect our techniques and practices for keeping the virus at bay, and adjust where needed. If we get hit with a hot spot, then the flexibility built into the plan can kick in from the point we've reached, and minimize the effects, rather than send us all into a blind panic.
It's time for people not facing real prospects of the virus to stand up and do their bit to regain normality, not perpetually gaze at places where it's literally hundreds of times worse and imagine doom.
BM
I read that the Atlantic bubble has been quite successful, BM. It seems that's because the Atlantic premiers were unyielding at the beginning of the outbreak. It's going to take that kind of steadfastness to defeat this virus.
I have a neighbour who is a Kindergarden teacher of many years. I am quite sure that she has a lot of passion for her job and very proffessional. In explaining her fears to me of the impending return to school I gained a full understanding of just how much co-operation she gets from Ford.If five of her young pupils remain at home to betaught virtually, Ford will find five others to take their place adding to my neighbours workload and increasing her risk. We all know the history of this conservative government and it's treatment of Teachers in this province. Stand with teachers at all costs and do your part to stop the spread of this virus. Ruduce the risk.
If we are to prevent the spread of the virus, zoombats, we cannot gather in groups of 30. The math is simple. Sometimes what is simple becomes very complicated.
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