MH Public School Division wants employees vaccinated, curriculum change halted
By KELLEN TANIGUCHI on April 28, 2021.
ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi The Medicine Hat Public School Division will be putting pen to paper with letters to Premier Jason Kenney and Education Minister Adriana LaGrange requesting education staff be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and for the proposed K-6 curriculum to be reconsidered. The provincial government recently reduced the age of eligibility for the AstraZeneca vaccine to people 40 and older, but the MHPSD board says a lot of teachers are under that age. “School-based staff play a vital role in providing high quality education to students, as such, deserve to be protected by the COVID-19 vaccination,” said chair Catherine Wilson. “We strongly urge the government of Alberta to take action immediately and prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations for school-based staff.” A motion was carried at the April 27 board meeting to write and send a letter to Kenney saying education staff need to be put to the front of the vaccine line. “I could not be more supportive of this,” trustee Deborah Forbes said during the Zoom meeting. “They’re not just working with their class. They’re working with hundreds of people. They’re working with all the people that every single one of those children have been in contact with and brought to school every day.” Trustee Carolyn Freeman says all education staff need to be included in the letter, including administrative assistants, custodians, educational assistants and more. “Jason Kenney stands at a podium that says protecting lives and livelihood, and teachers are at a core and forefront of that and have been since last March … so, it’s absolutely critical at this point that teachers be at the front of the queue to get their vaccines.” The board also carried a motion to write a letter to LaGrange requesting the current curriculum remain in place until a new one is developed by Alberta curriculum academics and teachers, with input from parents, students, Indigenous leaders and members of the community. “I’m hoping in this letter we make a very strong statement about probably a dozen ways in which it is wrong, and intrigue our minister of education to put this on a very, very long hold,” said Forbes. Wilson also says 10 schools in the district raised $3,453.65 for cancer research during their 2020 Terry Fox Run. 12-11
