We're repeatedly told that schools have to stay open because that's important for students' mental health but whose mental health is being prioritized by Minister Whiteside? 🧵 1/?
#bcpoli #bced 2/?
Certainly not the student who's terrified that their maskless peers are sitting right next to them in a windowless classroom in a school with inadequate ventilation.

🧵 Teachers in #bced, in the absence of adequate protections from the @bcndp gov't, let's crowdsource best ideas to keep safe when there's no mask mandate.

1. Wear an N95 mask or equivalent that fits tightly around your face or if you don't have these, double mask.

#bcpoli 2. Follow the advice of Dr. Fauci and the mandatory rule of the Peel School District: wear goggles or a face shield. The virus is airborne. You need to keep it out of your eyes.
#bcpoli

toronto.ctvnews.ca/peel-district-…

Being calm & kind will support mental health but it's truth that will keep us safe.
To that end, a few question suggestions for @richardzussman:
What data, exactly, shows that there is low/no transmission in #bced schools & that students don't transmit the virus? 1/?
#bcpoli 2/?
Why did the Minister of Public Safety, and not the Public Health Officer, mandate masks in all indoor public spaces?

#bcpoli

WHY was it the Minister of Public Safety that ordered the mask mandate for indoor public spaces?

Perhaps #bced teachers should implore @mikefarnworthbc to keep them safe in the indoor public spaces that classrooms are.
#bcpoli

bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document… Is this why it was the Minister of Public Safety and not the Public Health Office behind the mask mandate?

To whom should terrified #bced teachers turn for legislative action on their behalf?
#bcpoli
bc.ctvnews.ca/retail-council…

" As such, a vaccine alone, no matter how effective, will not tip the balance toward health because COVID-19 is not a disease; it is a symptom of an exhausted planet. "
theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…

Schools are being kept open not because of the need for educating students, their primary function, but because #bced performs a social safety net function in the provision of food, & the support of mental health in children. 1/? 2/? Schools perform these functions despite the fact that there is a Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and a Ministry of Child and Family Development in BC.

What would schools in BC be like if the mandate letter for the next Minister of Education included all 21 recommendations for Healthy and Resilient Schools? Why not ensure we are more prepared when the next pandemic arrives? #bced #bcpoli #MandateTheRecommendations 1/21 2/21
Recommendation 1
That the Ministry of Education provide stable, predictable, and adequate funding to enable school districts to fulfill their responsibility to deliver quality public education to all students in British Columbia.
#bced #bcpoli #HealthyAndResilientSchools

Which party is most likely to fund #bced in a way that reflects the importance attributed to public schools during Covid19 updates?

#BCelxn2020 #BCElection2020 #bcelection What are the chances that @bcndp or @bcliberals make any significant changes to this travesty? #BCElection2020 #bcelection #BCelxn2020

I was challenged by a @bcndp supporter to name a jurisdiction with a better school restart plan. Here you go: Vietnam, Thailand, Ghana. 1/?
#BCelxn2020 #bcndp cc: @bctf
medium.com/indica/the-ove… 2/ Senegal has a better plan. @bcndp should check it out.

"You see Senegal moving out on all fronts: following science, acting quickly, working the communication side of the equation, and then thinking about innovation,"

usatoday.com/story/news/wor…

Rumours abound about an election call. Time for a review.

Spring 2017 : Based on commitments made at BCTF meetings over 14 years, teachers volunteer hundreds of hours to help BCNDP candidates to get elected. Six are elected in the largest school district, Surrey.
#bced #bcpoli Fall 2017: Teachers are dismayed to watch their working conditions deteriorate because the warnings about a teacher shortage were ignored by Minister Fleming. Hundreds of students don’t have a classroom teacher for the first 4 months of the school year.

.@bcedplan You've got a mess on your hands. Let a teacher help you to see where you went wrong.
1st mistake: Just because you went to #bced school, doesn't mean you know how schools work. You should have given teachers meaningful roles in developing the plan. 1/? #BCIsNotDenmark 2/ 2nd mistake @bcedplan was to transplant a plan from Denmark into #bced. If you knew a bit of gardening you'd know that a plant that thrives in one climate zone doesn't always flourish in another. There are 10 kids in classes in Denmark; 30 students/class in BC .... 3/?

"The first blow delivered to the teachers was the way the planning was done. ... They were given only two days to learn a new set of protocols and in many cases a completely new schedule which required a fundamental change in teaching strategies." #bced

rippleleadership.com/post/in-a-teac… #bced #bcpoli #DeadTeachersCannotTeach

Amidst the massive backlash against that fantasy classroom ad with Dr Henry, let's reflect on how we got here.
Schools closed on 17 Mar. There were 103 Covid cases.
Schools partially re-open in June.
In Surrey, largest school district in BC, 15% of students returned #bced 2/ On 19 June @bcedplan published, in English only, the ‘Covid 19 Impact on Learning Survey’ of parents and students.

There was an extremely low response rate to the survey which excluded all non-English/French speaking parents & students.

#bced #bcpoli

#bced

@adriandix @Rob_Fleming Highlighting in yellow the BC CDC guidelines yesterday isn't going to change the fact that the schools we teach in do not match the schools you describe in those guidelines. We don't teach classrooms like the one in your ad. You're trying to ... 2/? ...convince us up is down, that black is white. We're entrusted with educating the children of BC. We're not idiots & we're so very tired of being treated as though we're incapable of critical analysis, as though we don't know anything about schools or classrooms. #bced #bcpoli

Is this graphic based on the results of a survey that EXCLUDED all non-English or French speaking B.C. households? #ShowTheScience @bcedplan Show the raw data for Covid19 Impact on Learning Survey since the September plan is based on its results. #bced #bcpoli
How many ... 2/? 2/ What was the raw number of households with incomes below $20K who responded to this survey?

Why wasn't the headline that 77% of kids in homes with incomes over $100K are experiencing 'learning impairment' while schools were closed?
3/?

#bced #bcpoli #RestartDisasterPlan Who will pay the #FarnworthFines in all these overcapacity #FlemingSchools ?

#bced #bcpoli

surreynowleader.com/news/how-stude…

Questions: 1. How much far does $45.6M spread amongst 60 school districts and 560 000 students?
2. How often is the science updated given evolution of information ? @CDCofBC using outdated/racist terms like "caucasian" in surveys casts doubt.

2/?

https://twitter.com/BCGovNews/status/1295430010564558848

Clearing misinformation:
3. Teachers were not consulted about the 29th July plan. They were TOLD it was happening.
4. For 6 months we've been told that physical distancing is the most effective protection against virus transmission. Why not for students in classrooms?

#Covid19BC #COVID19 #bcpoli #bced For student safety, we need 50% density in #bced schools.

The major constraint that Districts have is their annual budget is determined by how many Ss enrolled in each school as of 30 Sept. @bcliberals introduced the head count way of funding schools which has never made much sense but is particularly short-sighted during a pandemic. If this ill-conceived method of funding schools was suspended during this national crisis, Districts would have more flexibility to respond to parents' demands for more choice.

.@DrBonnieHenry re: the 'layers of protection' that's supposed to make masks unnecessary in #bced classrooms, @Surrey_Schools teachers in the Fraser South Health Region see many holes in those layers. Please advise on how to fix them. 1/ Fraser South has the fastest increases in Covid cases...

If @bcdc had asked, teachers would have explained that it takes up to 2 hours each day to fulfill the hand washing guidelines for each class in typical #bced elementary school. cc:@bctf
#AskATeacher #WeWorkInSchools The logistics of hand washing in over crowded #bced schools.