STF president suggests cancelling school sports in Regina

Sports have been cancelled at schools in Saskatoon and the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation thinks it would be wise for those in Regina to follow suit.

Individual school divisions have been working to prepare learning spaces for the return of class on Sept. 8 and activities like sports would undo it all, Patrick Maze told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Tuesday.

“I think it would put everyone a bit more at ease if it was cancelled in Regina as well. I know that’s not a popular sentiment among those who participate in those sports, including my son (who’s) going into Grade 12 and playing football,” Maze said.

“But at the same point, it makes no sense to be going to block timetabling and cohorting students during the day if they’re all just going to associate on the same field that night and in the locker room. It really defeats all the good work that school divisions have done.”

Maze and Morgan also talked about planning for classes to resume, with Maze saying most teachers have been optimistic and bullish on the plans prepared by individual school divisions.

However, there have been concerns with how to maintain physical distance in the classroom.

“In some situations, we won’t know until students come in how many are actually going to show up and what the classrooms are going to look like,” Maze said, adding some parents might opt to homeschool their children.

“If all students that are on a timetable show up in a classroom, we could have cause for concern because social distancing won’t be (possible).”

The second issue he has been hearing about has been ventilation, especially from teachers who work in older buildings.

“They want confirmation and want to know that ventilation, the HVAC system, has been maintained properly over the summer and in some situations require complete upgrades,” he said.

“Many in-school administrators I think have done a good job in those schools that have already reported back. (They’ve) done a good job explaining what has been done to the ventilation system.”