Who benefits from crowded schools?

Hazel Taylor-Quick | Sep 23, 2020

"Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly,” says Dr. Tedros Adhanom, the Director-General World Health Organization. He is right. I am a grade 8 student at Module Vanier, and have started this school year in a full-blown pandemic. I must wear a mask from the moment I arrive at school to the moment I leave, except for the occasional snack or drink.

The school now has strict rules about almost everything (where we must stand at recess, how we must walk to get there, no turning around in our desks, no standing within a meter of another student, no singing, etc.), but this week my class will be getting five or more students added to our already full class of 24 students.

Why is this happening? The answer is that there aren't enough teachers for both classroom and online learning. There are many teachers who are fully ready, happy, and qualified to be hired, but the provincial government just won’t provide the money to hire teachers, during a time when schools need it the most. Doug Ford’s cuts to school funding could cost Ontario lives. 

This isn’t just at my school, schools all around Ontario are having trouble keeping up with the new restrictions, the lack of space, and decrease in funding.  

Five more students, what’s the big deal? Well, for one, I have trouble imagining how these students will physically even get into our class.  Each of our desks are exactly 1 meter apart with one meter along the edge of the class to move around. How will these students fit in? When I asked my teacher she just shrugged and said, “I guess we’ll figure it out.” Our classes are full to the brim, it is a feat everyday to get in and out of classes, and we all know this is a super contagious disease, so in a middle school full of teenagers… this is a problem that can’t be figured out in a few days time. 

School is a germ-fest at the best of times. No matter what preventative measures are put in place, it will always be a challenge; however, that is not saying that schools can ditch rules that would help keep us, teachers, and the community safe. 

We know that Covid-19 is extremely infectious and can spread like wildfire. Take a moment to imagine that one of our students catches Covid. Now, because of the tight learning spaces, the rest of that class gets it. Now think of all the parents and grandparents that will be exposed.  As you can see this can just amplify over and over. Kingston and Frontenac have done very well so far, but until now schools have been shut down, and a false sense of security can do much damage.

People seem to think that the Ford government has been managing the pandemic well. And up until recently that has been reasonably true, because they have mostly been following the advice of experts. But, now, the Ford government seems determined to ignore experts and organizations, like the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, calling for class-size caps of 15, and has eliminated such caps all together, resulting in 30 students in a class. 

Schools have done exceptionally well adapting in such crazy times, but this new announcement undermines the health and safety of members of our community. Who is this supposed to benefit from policies that pack 30 students into a class during a once-in-a-century pandemic? Surely not the students, who just as they were getting used to the complex web of rules must relearn them, find new friends, have new teachers, and feel less safe. It doesn’t benefit the teachers who will have to organize, instruct and lead a class of teenagers larger than they would have seen since they themselves were in kindergarten. 

No, this benefits no one except a government that is determined to “save money” by endangering the rest of our community. This is no solution.

Hazel Taylor-Quick