Doug Ford’s neglect forces parents into impossible choice on schooling

August 11, 2021

TORONTO — Mike Schreiner released the following statement on schools:

“Tomorrow is the TDSB deadline for parents to decide between online and in-person classes for their child come September.

But it’s an impossible choice between the negative impacts associated with more online learning and the risk of COVID in unsafe classrooms.

Parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

And Doug Ford’s negligence is making things worse.

He refuses to listen to the public health experts on making schools safer.

He refuses to mandate vaccines for education workers, refuses to lower class sizes and dumps ventilation responsibility on school boards at the last minute.

The fourth wave is escalating. Dr. Juni of the Science Table warns that we could see as many as 1,200 new cases per day by the time schools start in September and estimates that the probability of unvaccinated people across all age groups to experience infection in the next six to 12 months is 80 to 90 per cent.

With children under 12 still ineligible for vaccines, parents are scared. And rightfully so.

It’s unacceptable that Doug Ford has put Ontario families in this position.

We know that the best place for kids to be is in the classroom. Both for their quality of learning and for their mental health.

But parents are now left with an impossible choice while they desperately wait for Ford to make the investments needed to make schools safe.”

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