Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation President Patrick Maze says they all want students and staff to return to the classroom, but it must be done safely.

This after the province released their Safe Schools Plan when students go back to in-class learning in the fall during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked about his thoughts on the return of extracurricular activities, Maze believes it should come 2nd to educational needs.

He says there will be significant academic gaps in student learning since some students didn’t use emergent online instruction when schools closed in March. he says some students will have effectively missed 3.5 months of the last year of school. he says there will need to be some method implemented to get these students up to speed.

The STF would like to see the government and school divisions explore all options to avoid the what they call the “Three Cs”: closed spaces, crowded spaces and
close contacts in schools.

[ckrm aug 5 2020]