Plan to reopen Quebec schools raising some concerns

Some parents and teachers have concerns about how Quebec's plan to bring more students back to schoolin September will balance health and education.

Education Minister Jean-Franois Roberge unveiled hisgovernment'splan Tuesday, which would divideclasses up to Grade 9 into subgroups of up to six students who will not have to physically distance from one another.

However, subgroups will have to remain one metre away from other subgroups and maintainatwo-metredistance from other students and staff whenever possible.

Students in Grades 10 and 11 will have the option to either form subgroups or do some home learningwhile staying with the same class of students.

CEGEP and university students will do a mix of in-school and at-home online learning.

• Quebec students will be heading back to school
• Quebec to allow indoor gatherings of 50 people, children to be closer together

"It's a little scary and I'm not too sure how the [Western Qubec School Board]is going to adapt," said Shannon Davis, that board's parent commissioner for special education.

Davis said while she has a lot of confidence in the school board, administrators and teachers, she questions whether the guidelines to bring students back to classcan be carried out effectively.

"I'm trying to wrap my head around the logistics of it," she said.

"We have asmanyas 1,400 students at one of our biggest high schools, so it'll be interesting to see how we can make that work successfully."

The board said that students with medical conditionswho cannotreturn to schoolwill still be supported, including new learning capsules produced by the Ministry of Education.

Schools across the province were closed in mid-March because of the pandemic

, but some elementary students in that English-language school board and others outside the Montreal area had the option toreturn to class on May 11.

Some schools saw less than half of their students come back.

'A distracting way of teaching'

Davis added thatshe also worries about teachers' ability to balance teaching new concepts with ensuring students remain physically distanced.

"It's going to be such a distracting way of teaching," she said. "Teaching is hands-on. The distance thing is a realstruggle."

Heidi Yetman, president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, said she would've liked the provincial government to have consulted with teachers more before drafting theirreopening plans.

"That's so important to make sure that a plan will work," she said.

Yetman said she's already fielding calls from teachers wonderinghow the guidelines will work once school starts.

"I already[have]teachers saying'Do we have to put them in these subgroups? Do we have to follow that rule?' Because it's a hard rule to follow," she said.

"This is going be really, really hard."

'They're exhausted'

Yetman said once class sizesgrow in the fall, things will get even tougher for teachers struggling to maintain their small class sizes right now.

"They're exhausted," she said.

"So now we're bringing everybody back. In elementary [schools] that means the class can go all the way up to 26, 27 students."

Yetman said another important aspectto considerbefore schools reopenis the mental health and well-being of students and teachers.

"I'm particularly worried because everybody has kind of lived through some sort of trauma during this pandemic," she said.

"There should be some trauma-informed pedagogy moving forward [and] I don't see that in the plan either."