Ontario’s Education Minister suggests parents can expect their children to be in the classroom on time after Labour Day, and schools will stay open.
Stephen Lecce acknowledged the difficulties families, especially children, have faced over the past two years as schools shut down amid wave after wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using a public school library in Ajax as a backdrop, Lecce introduced his government’s plan to help students catch up on any academic or social delays they may have suffered. The “Plan to Catch Up” includes more money for school infrastructure, enhanced tutoring, another $25-million to help the youngest students improve their reading skills, and topping up funding for mental health support by $10-million.
The Ontario NDP panned the plan accusing the Ford government of holding the line on the education budget when it should be increasing spending.
“Teachers and education workers are being laid off. Our kids’ class sizes are far too big, and growing. Cihldren still aren’t getting anywhere near enough support for their mental health. And teachers and education workers are leaving because they’re feeling disrespected,” said the party’s education critic Marit Stiles.
It said the budget the government ran in the last election will result in $1.3-billion less in education.
Kids playing on the Aamjiwnaang Sports Pad. June 2022. (Photo by Greg Plain from Twitter)
A big part of the plan is ensuring students can once again rely on extra-curricular activities like sports, band, field trips, and graduation ceremonies.
“We know that extra-curricular, clubs, sports, all of this is consequential to the life of a child,” said Lecce. “Learning doesn’t just take place in the classroom from an academic perspective. Social and emotional learning happens often outside the classroom but still within our school settings.”
Unfortunately, it’s not just a rise in COVID-19 cases that could put cold water on in-classroom learning and extra-curricular activities.
Last week, the Ontario government started collective bargaining with the first education union. In the past, contract talks have been rife with challenges, and before the pandemic, schools across the province were hit by rotating strikes as teachers hit the picket line.
“We are very grateful to those unions that have made themselves available through the summer,” Lecce said, expressing confidence his government would be able to reach an agreement with teachers’ unions without a disruption. “We are working with them in good faith, literally week after week.”
Asked if his government would head off a possible strike by declaring teachers essential workers, Lecce did not answer the question.
The Ford government has committed $304-milion in time-limited funding to hire another 3,000 teachers, early childhood educators, educational assistants and other frontline education workers. It also increased the special education grant by $93-million.
Since August 2020, the government said it’s spent $665-million to improve ventilation in Ontario schools, including installing more than 100,000 HEPA filter units in classrooms. Lecce said rapid testing would continue to be available for staff and students experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, and personal protective equipment will still be on hand.
