The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation would like to see the government provide more supports for teachers and students as in-person learning continues in Saskatchewan as Omicron cases rise.

President Patrick Maze says they would like to see the SaskParty government to provide N95 masks for all students and staff, to create cohorts in schools where that’s not already happening, to update the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include booster shots and for the immediate reinstatement of the Education Sector Response Planning Team.

Maze adds that if a number of teachers aren’t able to come to work because they’ve tested positive for COVID-19 or are busy working on contact tracing, then that could lead to other safety concerns, such as not having enough teachers to supervise during recess.

“If we can’t guarantee the safety of the general student body due to staff shortages, then we need to look at what we’re doing and really reconsider whether we can run schools in-person the way we are.”

Maze says their preference is to have in-class learning, although he wished the government pushed back the return of school by a couple of days to allow staff to coordinate cohorts and other preventative measures.