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I'm also wondering, with respect to teachers & ed staff - if TCDSB is setting a dangerous precedent of voting for 5 days/week with no covid-19 protocols being put into place, does that mean that the rest of Ontario school boards are going to follow suit?
How many student deaths or staff deaths will it take to get the proper funding in place so that going back to school is safe for everyone involved? We teachers were vilified during our strike days. What were we fighting for? Smaller class sizes, additional
Support for special education, additional staffing (speech language pathologists, psychometrits, PTs, OTs, EAs, CYWs, etc); additional tech; bring awareness about violence in the classrooms. We were criticized & disrespected January & February 2020.
Come March, the schools were shut down. We did not make that decision & yet many of us were blamed for it. We then had to hit the ground running for online learning. No PD, no resources, no nothing. Lecce threw us to the wolves and that was that.
April, May, June - it appeared the public changed their tune. We went from complaining to being education-heroes. Parents couldn't stop singing our praises. Many staff had never done online learning before, had to learn D2L, Brightspace or Google Classroom.
Lot of issues with quaranteaching to be sure. We did our best under the circumstances. Not all families had access to tech, good Wifi & many parents were essential workers. They were stressed out, worried how to help their kids w/ school work.
Not once did Lecce consult with teachers, support staff about distance learning. Instead, he promoted synchronous live lessons for all teachers, without consulting the teaching unions. He's ignorant, arrogant & inept in his role. If teaching unions said not
To do live lessons, there's usually pretty good legal reasons behind it. Not only that, but teachers were using their own phones & wifi to do lessons. Those that attempted to do live lessons encountered issues. Lecce's a fool to think that everyone lives like
Him, an entitled dude from Woodbridge who lives in a mansion. Not everyone had equal access to tech, materials, or teachers. In May, he critiqued teaching staff instead of thanking them. He shoved live lessons in our laps, guilt tripping teachers who
Weren't doing live lessons. In June, he says one thing (3 back to school scenarios). Next day, changes his mind (hybrid model). July: we're going back to 5 days/week. Also, there's no money for health & safety protocols for boards but figure it our, folks.
Yet again, throwing us under the bus while doing selfies & promoting himself for things he didn't help set up or get into motion. The most cowardly, useless & spineless MoE that Ontario has ever had. Now with TCDSB voting for regular schooling in September,
I hope Lecce & Ford have the number of a good lawyer on hand. Because if teachers get sick & some of them die, those two idiots can expect some major class action lawsuits coming their way. WE ARE NOT EXPENDABLE.
