This text is part of the special booklet Back to school with all the challenges
“The coming back to school is the most beautiful in times of COVID,” said Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge last week. After two years of crisis management, the Minister is betting that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and that the school network will remain safe from health disruptions.
Despite the Minister’s optimism in this electoral fall, a series of challenges will mark the start of the new school year: the shortage of personnel remains a concern, COVID-19 continues to circulate, doubts persist about ventilation, and the gap has increased between students who do well and those who need more time to learn.
At the time these lines were written, school transport was also in danger of being turned upside down because of contract renewal negotiations. An additional headache for parents, who have been invited by school service centers to provide a plan B for the travel of their children.
Despite these concerns, “back to school is first and foremost a happy time. Everyone is happy to come back,” said Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Principals (AMDES).
Teachers, school principals and all categories of school staff speak with sparkling eyes of this excitement to return to class after two months off. Like every start of the school year, this joy is however accompanied by a good dose of concern, especially in this third school year in times of pandemic.
Minister Roberge recalls that Quebec has had 90,000 CO readers installed as promised2 in all classes and all school premises (cafeterias, gymnasiums, etc.) in Quebec. Some 1,400 air exchangers were also supplied to school service centers that requested them.
The government says it has invested around half a billion dollars over two years to improve ventilation in schools, although the progress of the work remains unclear. Minister Roberge says he has requested a status report for September.
The Ministry of Education relies mainly on opening windows, even in winter, to improve air quality when CO detectors2 indicate a content greater than 1000 parts per million (PPM) in the classes.
Vacancies
The presence of the virus remains a concern for school staff, but with the health lull of the past few months, some problems seem more urgent, as students and teachers prepare to return to class. The shortage of personnel seems to be at the top of the list of concerns in the school network.
“There are recruitment challenges in all jobs, not just teachers,” says Kathleen Legault. Most school principal positions seem to be filled or in the process of being filled, but in school childcare services, the lack of candidates is problematic, indicate several sources.
Educators in daycare services and specialized educators seem particularly rare at the end of the summer, underlines for his part Carl Ouellet, president of the Quebec Association of School Management Staff (AQPDE). “The shortage has exacerbated with the pandemic,” said the representative of the school principals of 12 school service centers.
The lack of personnel also affects the ranks of school transporters. The average age of drivers is high. Several of them retired two years ago for fear of catching COVID-19, recalls Carl Ouellet.
An essential service
In certain neighborhoods of Montreal and elsewhere, the explosion in the cost of living is also likely to hurt children from underprivileged families, deplores Kathleen Legault, of AMDES. “We ask our staff to be on the lookout and to report to us situations where children will not have enough lunch or snacks,” she says.
School directors also remain ready to mobilize for children who lack school materials. The disadvantaged neighborhoods of Montreal are often those which are the most affected by armed violence, also recalls Mme Legault. Children who witness violence are likely to be less able to learn.
In this context, Kévin Roy, president of the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec, hopes that the Legault government will remain firm in its desire to keep schools open in the event of a new pandemic wave. Many children are assured of having one healthy meal a day thanks to school, he points out.
“School should be a priority. We have seen the effect of the closures on the mental health and on the success of our children. We cannot afford to close the schools just before the holiday season in order to be able to party, like last year. It knocked me down! he says.
He says he wants the government to set out clear rules to regulate the situations opening the way to distance schooling. The conflict surrounding school transportation – and the hypothesis of offering online education to students who may be deprived of yellow buses – illustrates the need for guidelines on this subject, according to Kévin Roy. He recalls that the instructions seem unequal from one environment to another on the possibility of switching remotely in the event of a snowstorm.