Education Minister Brad Trivers faced questions from both the Green and Liberal Opposition about the province’s plans for opening schools in September.
Both Liberal MLA Heath MacDonald and Green MLA Karla Bernard pressed Trivers Friday for answers, one day after he tabled a six-page document detailing some aspects of the province’s plans for a return to school. Trivers had previously promised the release of a detailed plan by the end of June.
The document contained broad details about schools, including information suggesting students will be segregated into cohorts to minimize large group intermingling. The document also said parents will be “encouraged” to drive their children to and from school to reduce the number of students on buses.
But the document did not include other details such as what contact will be permitted between cohorts or how big class or cohort sizes will be within each school. The plans also called for staggered drop-off times for students but included few details of how this will work.
Trivers said on Thursday that full operational plans for each school are not yet complete but will be before September.
MacDonald said he had heard concerns from several parents.
“How do you expect Island students, parents, child-care facilities and businesses to prepare for the new normal in schools when plans for such won’t be shared with them until they show up for classes, possibly, in the fall?” MacDonald said.
Trivers said the plan was informed by consultations with 43 stakeholders, including teachers, members of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation and district advisory councils.
“The operational plans are going to take time. Every school is different and they have to be individualized towards the schools,” Trivers said.
“I’d say the second, third week in August, we’re going to be able to give parents a very good indication of pickup and drop-off times and those sorts of details.”
Trivers later clarified in an interview that the full operational plans for individual schools would not necessarily be released in the second or third week of August, but some details would be released in an update.
"It's giving an update to the stakeholder groups of where we're at with our plans," Trivers said.
"I really believe in keeping groups like the home and school, district advisory council and all the stakeholders really involved in the process."
Trivers said it was impossible to predict what the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain) pandemic will look like on P.E.I. by September. He said the province’s Chief Public Health Office may deem the transportation of students in buses to be safe.
Green education critic Karla Bernard said she had also received several calls from parents.
"I thought there was going to be an actual plan. But what we found instead was a skeletal outline of a plan,” Bernard said.
"The amount of people that contacted me since (Thursday) evening – I was very surprised. There's panic, anger and confusion. And rightly so."
Bernard said some schools, like Eliot River, have such restricted classroom space that separating groups of students in the hallways or reducing class sizes could prove impossible.
"There are children literally receiving services in a closet there. There is no extra space to cohort, whatsoever," Bernard said.
Bernard said the six-page plan also included few details on how students with disabilities will be accommodated.
"We need more details," Bernard said.
MacDonald said the lack of detail in the plan will make life harder for working parents. He pointed to the difficulty parents would face if they are unable to arrive late for work or are charged late fees at a daycare.
"I don't think you can leave the public hanging like that. I think it's a much too important issue," MacDonald said.
