By Troy Gillard

Situation "an unprecedented crisis"

ATA calls for immediate action to address COVID-19 in schools

Apr 27, 2021 | 4:54 PM

The president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association says more need to be done to protect Alberta’s students and school staff from COVID-19.

Jason Schilling says that with only about 45 days remaining in the school year, government must take significant steps immediately to protect the viability of in-person learning.

“Alberta has now surpassed more than 20,000 active cases of COVID-19, with the majority of these cases being variants of concern. By the end of the week, we will have more people in ICU—a lagging indicator—than we did at the peak in December,” he pointed out Tuesday.

“The virus has adapted, and yet the government’s plan to protect students and staff largely has not.”

The biggest factor impacting COVID in schools is COVID in the community, the ATA says, adding government must take stronger action to prevent the spread across society.

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Schilling says many of the concerns identified regularly by the ATA over the past year have gone unaddressed.

He is calling for the government to implement a “clear and transparent system of triage” for schools in which schools in some areas are closed for a period of time, others are bolstered with enhanced safety measures and supports, and the rest continue to operate as they have been.

“The current situation is an unprecedented crisis that if left unaddressed will inevitably result in the shutdown of all schools,” he said.

Yesterday, Schilling called on the education minister to convene an urgent meeting of education stakeholders in order to discuss the needs of schools amid the third wave of the pandemic in Alberta.

As of Tuesday, 712 Alberta schools, about 29 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 4,271 COVID-19 cases in total. There are 434 schools are on alert, with 921 total cases. Outbreaks are declared in 278 schools, with a total of 3,350 cases. In-school transmission has likely occurred in 577 schools.

Multiple schools across the province have moved temporary online learning in response to surging COVID-19 cases. That includes several schools in Red Deer, including three high schools (Lindsay Thurber, Hunting Hills, Notre Dame).