Sask. Teachers’ Federation supports province’s school closure decision

On Monday afternoon the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, Patrick Maze, held a press conference to answer questions about the government’s decision to suspend all classes as of Friday, March 20.

“The ministry announced they will be suspending school beginning Friday fully and sort of a phased-in for the first few days and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is supportive of that move,” said Maze.

“Our teachers had incredible anxiety worrying about being exposed to the COVID-19 virus so this will do a lot to alleviate those concerns.”

He says the reason classes were not suspended immediately was to allow those who need it, time to make arrangements, but that the recommendation is for parents to start keeping their kids at home as soon as possible.

According to the news release from the province, “every student will receive a final grade based on their current grade and students will progress to their next grade level next year.”

The logistics of how this will work and what this means for students who might not currently have a passing grade is still being ironed out.

“Those who are worried about marks for getting into university and things like that will probably find some ways to be provided with supplementary work and teachers will endeavor to provide that to them as well,” said Maze.

“So those who are worried about it will find ways to keep their marks up and I’m sure that teachers will be online helping students get what they need as far as academics are concerned.”

However, as of now, there are no plans to continue providing the other services, outside of academics, that schools often provide to their students like lunch programs that address food security needs.

“So many of these situations bring to light the huge roles that schools and teachers play in student’s lives,” said Maze.

“Students if they need to, could express concerns to their teachers and teachers could get them in touch with community organizations that provide those supports given that schools are closed. But it is a good point and one that will likely need to be addressed in the near future.”

This morning’s announcement also came at a time when the province’s teachers were in the middle of job action. Maze says it has become a moot point now since schools will be closed at the end of the week but there is still no need to drop it entirely.

“As far as negotiating is concerned it’s a secondary concern to students health of course so we will wait a while and see how it all transpires and resume down the road when it all is kind of safe to do so,” he said.