QUEEN’S PARK — Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Education critic, released the following statement in response to the government’s announcement on re-opening schools:
“By announcing all, none or some school re-opening in September, Doug Ford and his Education Minister failed to provide any clarity at all, and what few details they did provide are impossible in practice. Many parents can’t choose to stay home and teach their kids if the don’t like the re-opening plan, and it’s totally unrealistic to add zero new teachers and expect teachers to juggle students who are rotating between classrooms and emergency distance learning.
They left the heavy lifting to school boards, with no commitment to the deep collaboration that frontline workers and parents have been asking for, and no new funding. This is status quo planning in unprecedented times.
It’s time for this government to go back to the drawing board, and work with students, parents and educators to come up with a concrete plan, and commit the funding to support it.”