Many teachers and educational assistants are happy with back-to-school but they also fear the risk of further COVID infections and the possibility of a strike not long after classes resume.
“I’m going to try to be positive and anticipate a great year,” said Natasha Datoo, a teacher at Drewry Secondary in North York.
“But after last year it was pretty rough. I’m not going to lie. We went in with a lot of anxiety and many of our co-workers contracted COVID – almost all of us did throughout the year.”
The new scholastic year risks having some labour turbulence – along with a possible increase in COVID infections that leave schools in a pinch.
“I think staff shortages – throughout health care, throughout education – are a real thing,” Datoo said. “It’s probably going to be a messy year but we will try to stay positive as much as we can.”
Remona Persaud – also a teacher at Drewry – is especially concerned about health amid the changing rules regarding COVID isolation.
Her father, 61, was infected during the second wave of the pandemic and spent three months on a ventilator.
She said he slowly recovered but is nothing like the way he was before.
“I was very nervous about bringing something home back to him. And him going through that experience again,” Persaud said.
“How do I stay safe at my workplace and then come home to my dad who is now more sick and more susceptible?”
Persaud said her special needs students will benefit even more now because they can resume co-op placements that enrich their educational experience.
Her classes never went remote during the pandemic because of their special needs.
“We were open and COVID was spreading in our school a lot because of Omicron,” Persaud said. “Everyone would get it instantly compared to the variants before.”
The risk of labour disruption is also very real.
CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions has set a strike vote for later in September as it continues to press for raises in a new contract after the old one expired Aug. 31.
“We’re calling on Stephen Lecce and Doug Ford to rescind their insulting offer, pay workers a decent wage, and invest in more staff to provide the services students rely on,” Laura Walton, educational assistant and OSBCU president, said in a statement last week.
“There’s that too that is looming over us,” said Datoo about the risk of a strike. “But I try not to focus on that. I try to focus on my classroom.”
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