Schools are being kept open not because of the need for educating students, their primary function, but because #bced performs a social safety net function in the provision of food, & the support of mental health in children. 1/?

2/? Schools perform these functions despite the fact that there is a Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, a Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and a Ministry of Child and Family Development in BC.

3/? The ‘downsides’ that Dr Henry talks about to closing schools is not related to a loss of learning but to the loss of food and mental health support for children in one of the richest provinces in Canada. A province where 1 in 5 children lives in poverty.

4/? Who is responsible for this? Let’s look at the powers of all the ‘players’ in the current situation.

5/? @TeriMooring is the elected leader of 43,000 teachers. She has 1 vote on a 12 member Executive who take directions from the Representative Assembly, an elected body of 131 representatives from 60 locals around the province. Teri has no power to make or change laws.

6/? @DrBonnieHenry is the appointed head of the Public Health Office. Her word is law. Her laws can be enforced by fines. She answers to Adrian Dix. She's determined that schools should remain open. She dismisses calls for a mask mandate or concerns about asymptomatic infection

7/? @adriandix is the elected Minister of Health. He was appointed to this role by @jjhorgan . Dix has a mandate to protect the health of all citizens of the province. He can draft legislation.

8/? @JM_Whiteside is the elected Minister of Education. She was appointed to this role by @jjhorgan. Her mandate letter tasks her with working with other Ministries in acknowledgement of the social safety net role that schools play. She's responsible for what happens in schools.

9/? @jjhorgan is the elected premier of the province. He has an enormous range of powers. He has these powers because he has the votes of at least 56 MLAs in the Legislature.

10/? Trustees, represented by @BCSTA_News, are elected members of school boards. They are responsible for the management of school districts. They have the power to make changes in the 60 school districts in the province.

11/? We need to direct our concerns and frustrations to where they can make a difference.

Schools are being kept open because @DrBonnieHenry says so.

12/? A former BC Minister of Health, @ujjaldosanjh has been publicly calling on Dr Bonnie Henry for a mask mandate in schools and for rapid tests in Long Term Care facilities.

13/13 Because she is appointed and not elected, Dr Henry does not have to answer to voters.

Adrian Dix and John Horgan, all the MLAs in the Legislature, and all the Trustees do.

Let’s funnel our frustration accordingly.

#bcpoli #Covid19BC #bced

14/13 By "schools" I mean schools in areas of high virus transmission e.g. @Fraserhealth. What would tests of asymptomatic students & staff in all school districts in the health region reveal? Given what happened in schools in Ontario & Quebec, I suspect many cases would be found

15/13
" A Windsor elementary school outbreak with 49 cases set the "precedent" for asymptomatic COVID-19 testing in the province " https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/covid-19-asymptomatic-testing-schools-1.5824737