Sask. parent responds to back-to-school plan

Some parents don’t like the idea of kids having to mask up when the school year kicks off.

Sherry Fedoroff lives in Warman. She has a fully vaccinated, 12-year-old daughter who goes to school there.

She said that last year was quite a struggle.

“So many times, my daughter would just be upset about school, because she was tired of wearing that mask eight hours a day,” she said.

“Mental health took a toll. You have all these young kids who are pre-teens, teenagers. They have enough to deal with. COVID threw a curveball into their life. Trying to have a normal life and literally sit in a classroom with a mask on from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day … I can get why they didn’t want to go, some of them.”

She also sees the idea of making kids mask up as a bit contradictory to what’s allowed in the province right now.

“This summer with everything reopening, she has been to West Edmonton Mall — that’s been very busy — twice, she’s been to the Ex, she’s been around where there’s a lot of people. So, I’m not sure why in the setting of a school, why she would have to all of a sudden wear a mask when she’s already been out in public,” Fedoroff wondered.

As for kids who are too young to get a vaccine, she still believes it should be a choice left up to families.

However, she still thinks there are COVID measures that make sense in school.

“Keep with their cohorts and stuff from last year, and then give the families an option (on masks).”