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Mixed messages emerge as schools get ready to open

Weyburn This Week editorial

There seems to be mixed messages coming out of Regina in regard to the plans to reopen Saskatchewan’s schools on Sept. 1, and it would be nice if all of the authorities in charge would sing from the same page, so to speak.

As the provincial government comes under heavy criticism for their school reopening plan, the Education Minister and Chief Medical Health Officer met with the press again on Tuesday to offer some clarification about what school divisions should be doing.

Dr. Saqib Shahab spelled out on Monday what the four levels are for school divisions, with Level 2 being where he would basically order students to wear masks.

But in the news conference Tuesday, minister Gord Wyant said they would leave the decision up to the local school divisions about mask-wearing, and told parents that they should trust their local school divisions as they know what the local situations are.

This is certainly true for most part, that the administrators and teachers of local schools have a pretty good handle on what’s happening in their local area.

The thing is, they are looking to the Chief Medical Officer as the head public health official to tell them, based on his experience and medical knowledge, what the best course of action is. For Dr. Shahab’s part, he hinted that in his view schools should start at Level 2, or in the case of large urban schools, at Level 3, and then recalibrate as the school year progresses.

This isn’t quite what the Education Minister said, thus we have the mixed messages.

At the very least, Grades 4-12 students should be wearing masks if they are not able to physical distance from each other, which in many schools is going to be case, considering there are overcrowded classrooms in many schools, and crowded hallways in between classes.

Meantime, parents and their children are wondering what they should be doing. Not everyone has the same fears and concerns, so there will be a range of reactions. Some parents may just opt to keep their children at home for the time being, or else they will send their children to school with masks — and some parents will just shrug off the concerns and send their kids to class without them.

Some people have real anxiety about the whole COVID situation, for good reason — they are vulnerable, with underlying health conditions or compromised immune systems.

Schools will move forward as they see best, with Southeast Cornerstone indicating they are supportive of anyone wishing to wear a mask, while Holy Family states that Grades 4-9 staff and students are to wear masks in high-traffic areas.

This is all an unknown situation, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but by working together we can get through it, hopefully without any illnesses.