More than 3,600 sign petition against Regina students returning to classrooms

Students in Regina’s two largest school divisions are preparing to return to classrooms on Monday, but a petition with more than 3,600 signatures is trying to change that.

Public and Catholic school division students have been working remotely since March 29 due to concerns about COVID-19, and some parents have been eager for their children to get back to school.

But that isn’t the case for all parents, as many feel not enough school staff are vaccinated for a return to the classroom to be warranted.

Dawn Barker, a concerned grandmother, has been helping her grandson with his online schooling throughout the pandemic. She feels COVID cases are still too high in the community for kids to go back to school.

“If we let the kids go back, how is their mental health going to hold up if a beloved teacher ends up in ICU, or if a loved one passes away because it was brought home through the school?” Barker said.

“It was my hope that by making this petition we could maybe put these names in front of the school boards and say, ‘You know, you guys should really reconsider this decision because it’s putting a lot of lives on the line.’ ”

As of the time of publication Friday, Barker’s petition in hopes of reversing the current decision made by the school boards had garnered 3,678 signatures.

She says she isn’t surprised by the reaction it has been getting.

“(COVID) is affecting so many lives. The decision made feels like it was done politically rather than with the use of science,” Barker said. “Why are we putting teachers back in this situation for basically no reward when we are so close to June (and the end of school)?

“At this point, even if all the teachers and staff could be magically vaccinated this weekend, it would be two or three weeks before they had any immunity.”

Despite the attention the petition has gotten, the divisions seem firm in their decision.

Schools will be taking advantage of rapid testing kits that were previously supplied by the province. And the idea that teachers and other educational staff are now eligible to be vaccinated as a prioritized group gave the divisions another reason to make their decision.

“The recommendations of local and provincial medical experts guided our decisions and the number of cases of COVID-19 related to schools was significantly reduced. Regina medical health officers now support a return to in-class learning. We will continue to follow their guidance,” Greg Enion, the public division’s director of education, said in a news release Monday.

Barker described the division’s release as frustrating.

“Obviously cases have been reduced in schools because they haven’t been in class. It’s like stopping taking antibiotics before you’re done. It’s just going to end badly,” she said.

“Every teacher I know, every kid I know, would rather be in the classroom. But at what cost? Why can’t we wait until next fall when it’s safe?”