School support workers worried they aren’t being protected

Schools have had to change all kinds of things for the pandemic – from recess times to semester schedules to band practice.

But some support workers in the schools say they’re not protected. Jackie Christianson is the president of CUPE Local 3766, which covers about 600 support workers in the Regina public school division like education and teaching assistants.

“We are worried. We are concerned,” said Christianson.

Christianson said most of her members are not assigned to specific cohorts like teachers are, so they could ostensibly come into contact with hundreds of students in a day.

She explained that her casual members weren’t given a bubble of schools to work in, and so if they wanted full-time hours, they could be working in up to 40 schools in a month.

When she brought up the concerns to the division, Christianson said the union was told the division would “try, based on student needs.”

Christianson said of course student needs should come first.

“But when their needs supersede our safety there is a problem,” she said.

She said she believes the employer tried to keep everything very strict at first, but with the shortage of casual support staff, that went by the wayside.

In response, Regina Public Schools supervisor of communications Terry Lazarou said schools do their best to make sure employees work with the same students in one cohort and don’t have repeated contacts with other students.

He also said in a statement the division takes the health and safety of staff very seriously, and cohorting is only one of the precautions taken. It also requires masks, offers face shields for staff, requires the cleaning of high-touch areas, and ventilation in schools was recently improved.

When talking about cohorting of other staff, like a subset of substitute teachers who pull work from a job board, Darren Boldt with the division said officials rely on those teachers to control where they go.

“It would be impossible for us to manage the controlling, but they would be able to control the schools they choose,” Boldt said about those substitutes.

When there is a case in schools Christianson said there are concerns about communication and contact tracing.

She contends that, in some cases, casual support workers aren’t being notified if there was a case identified at a school where they worked. And sometimes a support worker spent time around a student who tested positive and they believe they should be considered a close contact, but they’re told no.

“I’ve had members who’ve brought it up and they say, ‘Hey, I work in that classroom,’ or, ‘I provide lunch supervision, you know, where we know the positive case is at,’ … and those considerations are not being met,” said Christianson.

Christianson did say this isn’t a problem in every case.

“I do know of some EAs who have been deemed a close contact. I know of others that it has been argued and they’re told, ‘No, it doesn’t matter if you’ve provided lunchroom supervision unmasked, you are not a close contact,’ ” explained Christianson.

The school division explained that, when it’s notified of a case at one of its schools, it will gather information, check dates, attendance records and schedules, and will give that information to Public Health which will then determine who’s a close contact.

“That includes who was where, when and what their work entails. This means that regardless of an employee’s position, Public Health is provided information about everyone, including any visitors, that may have been in contact with someone with COVID-19,” read the statement from Lazarou.

Christianson, however, questions what information is being given to Public Health, especially in cases where her members aren’t being contacted after a positive case.

Lazarou said all school staff are contacted before and during the determination of close contacts and all division staff are informed through email. He said anyone who feels they’re not being kept informed is invited to contact their superintendent.

Christianson said employees are worried about COVID and the spread in schools is large enough that some members decided not to come back for this school year. Some have gone on leave because they’re immuno-compromised. She said the staffing situation for casuals has been critical since September.

“You can imagine getting up every single morning, getting dressed for work, and knowing that you are putting your life at risk,” said Christianson.

She admits these are difficult times and said she’s not placing any blame on anyone.

“We do want to go to work, we want to be there for the kids, but we want to be safe as well. And I don’t think anybody in the public would begrudge that to us,” said Christianson.