Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca calls Doug Ford’s plan to reopen schools "half-baked" and "nothing short of a catastrophe for parents, students, and teachers."
He says in a news release that the plan falls short of even the basic standards set out by SickKids and blatantly ignores recommendations from school boards, teachers, education workers, healthcare associations, and parents.
“Parents in North Bay have been waiting anxiously for a plan to reopen schools safely – Doug Ford gave them one written on the back of a napkin,” said Del Duca. “None of the concerns parents raised have been addressed. None.”
See: Concerned parents asking Ministry of Education to take over return to school process from local board"Doug Ford’s school reopening plan gets a failing grade on every measure. The SickKids’ report, released last week, makes it clear that a proper plan must include smaller class sizes and a significant amount of new caretakers.
The Liberals released their Plan to Help Our Students last week.The plan would support 100 new teaching positions in North Bay to help keep class sizes small.
"To keep classes and schools clean, the Liberal plan would also create 100 new caretaker positions in North Bay. The Conservatives will only create 5. That’s about 1 for every 10 schools," says the news release.“This plan continues to make it clear that Doug Ford is treating our students, their parents and everyone involved in the public education system as an afterthought,” said Steven Del Duca. “What Doug Ford gave us isn’t a plan to safely reopen schools - what he gave us was irresponsible. It doesn’t provide the smaller class sizes we need or enough resources to keep schools clean. It’s a dangerous roll of the dice with our kids’ safety.”
