Mixed feelings for schools after Kenney’s announcement

By KENDALL KING, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 10, 2022.

kking@medicinehatnews.com

The provincial government announced Tuesday students will no longer be required to wear face masks in schools beginning Feb. 14. Local school superintendents report mixed reactions to the announcement, but are not surprised by it.

“We were expecting pretty quick adjustment to the restrictions and measures that were in place,” Mark Davidson, Medicine Hat Public School Division superintendent, told the News. “The government had been signalling as much for the last couple of weeks.”

Dwayne Zarichny, superintendent for the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education, told the News he and his staff were also unsurprised by the announcement.

“Certainly other provinces are moving in that direction in tandem with Alberta, so I don’t think we found it surprising.” Zarichny said. “Listening to the data presented last night and which informed the government’s decision seems to make sense these next steps are being taken. And so, it’s a matter of practice our jurisdiction follow the direction that’s given by the chief medical officer of health. If she’s confident that we’ve moved into an endemic stage and they don’t believe the mask is necessary, then we’re confident in her judgment.”

Not all individuals connected to schools share that confidence, however. Davidson confirmed to the News, he has received mixed feedback from individuals, some happy masking will no longer be required and others who expressed concern, specifically in regards to student health and possible increased transmission.

“I think the challenging part is we’ve been – for two years – working under the premise that all of the measures we’ve had in place were effective in protecting one another from COVID, so there’s a level of concern or reluctance among many because this was a dramatic shift away from what we’ve been doing for so long,” Davidson said. “There’s also people who are not sure it’s the right thing (but) are also happy things are loosening up. We all have complicated sets of opinions and motivations in our lives and I think everybody I talk to has mixed emotions, and has had mixed emotions, at every step of the pandemic.”

Following the premier’s announcement, many Albertans expressed views on the changes to public health measures online.

One teacher reached out to the Alberta Teacher’s Association on Twitter inquiring about the safety of schools once mandatory masking was removed. The tweet read: “Can the ATA help teachers navigate being forced into unsafe workplaces? Steps have been taken to actively make schools less safe after the 14th. Do we have any rights or freedoms regarding a safe work/learning environment?”

ATA vice-president Greg Carabine responded to the tweet and stated the ATA’s Teacher Employment Services would be consulting with legal representatives.

Kenney then tweeted a picture of the exchange with a caption which read, “Disturbing to see the teachers union thinks unmasked kids create ‘an unsafe workplace,’ and is threatening legal action to force kids to wear masks indefinitely. Almost all Alberta teachers are triple vaccinated. Treat kids like kids, not ‘unsafe’ vectors of transmission.”

When asked about the premier’s response during a Wednesday press conference, ATA president Jason Schilling stated, “I find his remarks are equally as disturbing. There’s a lot of tension, stress and anxiety out there right now. I heard from teachers who’ve been harassed … principals who’ve been threatened. I’ve heard from individuals anxious about what is going on in schools. And to have the premier target two individuals in this way, specifically in his tweet, and to throw it back into the face of teachers, after just saying in a press conference that we need to come together, we need to work together to overcome what is happening in COVID, and then to turn around and target teachers this way is despicable behaviour … We should be working together.”

In the same press conference, Schilling encouraged Alberta’s government to slow the removal of public health measures in schools.

“Teachers – like most Albertans – are tired of the pandemic, but they’re also worried about the speed at which the government announced the removal of the one protection that was available to all students in all grades; masking,” Schilling said. “A return to a normal school setting is something everyone is hoping for, however we do not want a hasty decision to put us a step backwards in just a few weeks.”

While students will no longer be required to wear masks in schools, they are welcome to do so if they wish. Both of Medicine Hat’s school divisions will provide masks, using those supplied by the province’s government earlier in 2022.

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