Saskatchewan’s NDP Leader is calling on the Premier to apologize for the lack of clarity around schools reopening and the stress it has caused to families and to school teachers and staff.
On Monday, Premier Scott Moe announced $40-million to help schools in the reopening, with the funds coming from a $200-million contingency fund.
NDP Leader Ryan Meili says it’s nowhere enough.
He adds that kids are not a contingency and parents deserve a real plan that includes enough funding to accommodate smaller class sizes, clear guidance on mask use, when to move through the different phases, and provisions for alternate and distance learning.
Meili notes that all the big decisions have been left to the school divisions, but when it comes to when a school should move from 1 phase to another, that shouldn’t be their responsibility.
It should instead come from the Ministry of Health.
Also on Monday, the Premier said regulations and recommendations are done on the advice of the Chief Medical Health Officer, but Meili notes that Moe said, “we follow the recommendations when we are able to.”
Meili says this is still the Premier’s decision, and the failure to come up with a clear plan has resulted in a delay to the start of school.