CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Support Our Students Alberta (SOS) is calling for clarity from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange after the Black Gold School Division, south of Edmonton, was denied their application to move to online learning.
They say LaGrange has a lot of questions to answer regarding the government’s decision.
“What are the benchmarks that Alberta Education would look at?” said SOS’s communications director, Wing Li. “School boards know what’s happening in their division best on the ground, they get reports from their schools, they know how many cases. So, it just doesn’t align with what we’re seeing and we are wondering if this is based on science or if it’s based on politics.”
Li says other divisions have been given the go-ahead to move to online learning and doesn’t know why Black Gold School Division would be excluded.
“We have subs in a division moving amongst schools, so that is a real concern if it’s affecting enough schools in the division there must be a trigger point to ensure continued safety,” she said.
Li adds it’s concerning that no move has been made when the school division is obviously asking for help from the government and should trust they know what’s best for the schools.
“The ministry has to stop waiting for things to get really bad and they need to listen to what the school boards are asking for.”
READ MORE: Alberta identifies 1,542 new variant cases of COVID-19
660 NEWS reached out to the province on the matter, in which they responded:
“Alberta Education has been working closely with Black Gold School Division regarding their request to shift to at-home learning for all grade 7-12 schools.
School boards experiencing operational challenges can submit their request to temporarily shift their schools to at-home learning. Alberta Education evaluates their request based on four criteria:
· A chronic substitute teacher shortage.
· A significant number of students and staff in quarantine or isolation.
· Recent requests from the board for short-term shifts for a number of their schools.
· Substantial COVID-19 cases in the community
When reviewing the data provided by Black Gold against the established criteria, Alberta Education determined that the school division did not meet the requirements necessary to shift the entire division to at-home learning. According to data provided by the board to Alberta Education, 41% of their schools that offer grades 7-12 did not have any COVID-19 cases nor did they have any students or staff quarantining.
As in-person learning has many benefits, the province is committed to safely continuing in-person learning for the largest number of students possible.
Alberta Education worked collaboratively with Black Gold School Division to approve the temporary transition of one of their schools to at-home learning for two weeks. We will continue to work with the school division and monitor the situation closely. The safety of students and staff is the provinces number one priority, and we are ready to make changes when necessary, based on the advice of the chief medical officer of health.”
