Office of the Official Opposition
For Immediate Release

St. John's, NL (September 8, 2020) – Ches Crosbie, PC Official Opposition Leader and MHA for Windsor Lake, today wished all teachers, staff, administration, parents, and especially students, a safe and happy back to school.

Crosbie noted the PC Official Opposition continues to be inundated with complaints, concerns and questions from parents and other stakeholders who continue to try to get information and answers with schools reopening in less than 24 hours.

“Sadly, Government sat on a back to school plan for many months and has been scrambling the past couple weeks to find band aid solutions. Much of the anxiety and confusion should have been avoided. The PC Opposition has been repeatedly calling for a number of measures which has fallen on deaf ears. Specifically:

· Staggered openings for individual grades.

· Adequate bus resources to accommodate the 6200 children now left behind. This includes double and triple bus runs for smaller catchment areas.

· Smaller class sizes.

· Blended model of instruction for older grades.

· Online/virtual learning that is organized, responsive and able to meet the needs of our children.

“While I am pleased Government has taken our advice to hire additional teachers, custodians and guidance resources, this will not address many of the practical challenges parents and children will face tomorrow. Thousands of children have no way to school and no ability to learn at home. Administrators and classroom teachers are overly burdened as a result of this governments poor planning,” added Craig Pardy, PC Official Opposition Critic for Education and Early Childhood Education and MHA for Bonavista.

“Last week, the Minister described bussing as a ‘mess’. Unfortunately, this Government’s approach to planning since schools closed in March can only be described in the same way.”

Contacts:

Bradley Russell

Director of Policy and Research

(p) 1.709.729.3668

BradleyRussell@gov.nl.ca

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