Thread by @MarieTattersall

TO: Premier Ford, Minister Lecce, Minister Elliott, CMOH Dr. Moore, All publicly funded school boards and teacher unions
We do not appreciate the alleged partnership you have failed to cultivate with parents and teachers as we continue to respond to the global pandemic. It has

been an unprecedented challenge to our country, which has been consistently and continuously compounded by the inaction and unresponsiveness of elected officials, the CMOH, PHUs, boards, and teacher unions working in seamless conjunction to establish a metanarrative that is

strangling the truth. This challenge is particularly evident when looking at our schools and our childcare centres that were denied the same equity as businesses across the province when we demanded Rapid Testing to keep our children, schools and communities safe. We are

collectively ashamed of what you have failed to do to keep our children safe while insisting schools and childcare centres will remain open at any cost for the duration of the current school year.
We are now entering a new phase of the pandemic as we move towards the

introduction of vaccines for our children, a phase that is marred by dishonesty and distrust while simultaneously demanding more transparency and accountability. As Canada continues its vaccination efforts of adults, it is critical that your ministry and all it’s incumbent

parts, actually starts looking at reality and applies the lessons you have thus far failed to learn. We have only to look at the current state of affairs to realize that you do not acknowledge the importance of forward planning to manage student safety. My grandmother hit the

nail on the head when she said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The condensed version of these lessons includes reducing class size to ensure proper social distancing, not reorganizing, collapsing and combing classes during a pandemic using pre-pandemic policy,

abandoning any thoughts of hybrid learning which is completely unrealistic and does neither student nor teacher justice, ensuring every class has a HEPA unit, bringing ventilation on buses up to the highest standard, insisting all teachers, support staff, administration and

anybody else entering the building is double vaccinated and wearing superior PPE (N95 not Level 1 ASTM Baggy blues), putting siblings back into the health screen so asymptomatic cases stop falling through the cracks, and of the utmost importance releasing rapid testing to catch

cases early, chop chains of infection, reduce transmission inside the school and preserve the viability of remaining classes. Also adding listen to the people who actually know, the science is sound, the stats are in, teachers and parents live where policy and reality meet.

Already numerous studies have been undertaken and completed to assess the safety and efficacy of superior masks and rapid testing and the necessity of proper ventilation and social distancing. While this is hopeful news, it also underscores the necessity to start implementing a

proper plan that is already 19 months late. This ministry’s back to school plan has been an unmitigated failure from the beginning, and your inability to lead is substantiated by the fact that 99 649 kids in Ontario have contracted COVID. In fact latest numbers indicate that

children now account for 1/2 of all active cases across the province.Proper PPE for teachers, rapid testing and a functional daily screen are a critical part of ending soaring case rates inside schools and keeping our children safe. While we do not fully understand the

implications for children who catch COVID at this point in time, we do realize this is precisely why every precaution must be taken to ensure the safest approach to in class learning. Your wanton disregard for the health and safety of our children since the onset of the pandemic

clearly illustrates that you are not capable of protecting the most vulnerable members of our community; that childcare and educational settings are not viewed with the same import as business in our province; that bottom of the barrel policy is the best you can actually do given

your apathetic nature. Let it also be said that education is the cornerstone of Canadian society and being the Minister of Education is a tremendous responsibility: You have been entrusted with the health and safety of our children and teachers. Much to our chagrin you are

simply not qualified, competent or compassionate enough to rise to the stature of your post.Our imperative is to recover from the damage your ministry has inflicted, to continue placing human health before the mad dash to pretend schools are safe, since all of us realize that

schools and economic recovery are indeed inexplicably intertwined. We are calling upon all levels of this ecosystem to take immediate steps to use all the tools in the toolbox and adapt bad policy to reflect sound science.
First, we would call upon the Premier to immediately

release rapid testing procured from the federal government to all schools, to add an actual layer of robust protection for all children regardless of age. We have learned from the inequitable distribution of rapid tests to businesses but not schools, and the squashing of parent

run testing programs, that it’s difficult to gauge the extent of infection raging inside schools when we are flying blind. There is an ever growing global demand for elected officials and public health gatekeepers to ensure children are adequately protected since they are

voiceless, powerless and not afforded a seat at the table.
Second, we ask the CMOH, Minister of Health & Education to stand up, roll up your collective sleeves and rigorously and rapidly review the irrefutable body of scientific evidence proving the need for superior PPE, RT,

HEPA Units, small class sizes with proper social distancing, and a daily health screen that catches asymptomatic cases. Ensuring these standards are met will undoubtedly offer parents and educators a much clearer vision of how to maintain their mental health, than the cut copy

paste links attached at the bottom of COVID Case Count letters from our principals. While we agree vaccinating children and students as quickly as possible will help ensure schools are safer, we cannot pretend that vaccines are a perfect solution to deep seated problems within

either ministry, and I for one remain dubious that even with a common goal either are capable of rising to meet the challenges we have yet to face. It is abundantly clear from the tone and intent of your letter that schools and the entire childcare sector are only of critical

import when viewed as a driver of economic recovery, which certainly explains why our children and teachers have become collateral damage.

Part 2 in next post

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