BCTF take COVID in the School concerns to Dr. Bonnie Henry

BCTF President Teri Mooring 
has taken the teachers concerns to
Dr. Bonnie Henry directly

British Columbians teachers will be paying particular attention to the COVID-19 update later today from Dr. Bonnie Henry, watching to see if some of the themes of a recent correspondence from BCTF leader Teri Mooring may make for some of the narrative of the messages of the day.

Ms. Mooring forwarded a range of concerns from teachers to the Public Health Officer last week in a letter to Dr. Henry, the main thrust of the correspondence one of concern over the lack of up-to-date and full information on COVID-19 in the schools, with the teachers union noting that they are troubled by the lack of transparency and consistency when it comes to information sharing.

The teachers also outline their ongoing concern over contact tracing and how each of the province's health authorities are approaching the way that information is delivered to the community and the schools.

The correspondence closes with a request for the Doctor to report on the school based exposures and use her guiding themes of remaining calm, kind and safe as part of their call for the need for more information.

Dr. Henry, your frequent media briefings have provided excellent information to British Columbians and have helped citizens feel united around a common cause. If you were to report on, and contextualize the school-based exposures, it would go a long way to assuaging the deep concerns and anxieties of teachers and parents. Armed with the necessary information, people will—as you have so often reminded us—be able to stay calm, kind, and safe.

The teachers may get a public response to their request later today, it being Thursday, the COVID-19 report from Doctor Henry will be a public forum report, streamed live through the BC Government Facebook page at 3 PM today.

The letter to Dr. Henry is just the latest approach that the BCTF has taken when it comes to the launch of the school year in this period of COVID, in mid September the Teachers federation took the Ministry of Education to the BC Labour Relations Board, delivering a range of concerns over the restart to the year, so far there has been no indication as to the fate of that appeal

The full correspondence from the teachers can be explored below:

click to enlarge

As of today, exposure reports for the Northern Health region are noted for five school districts, with SD91 in Nechako Lakes and the Independent school in Fort St. James listed for the Northwest region.

Details on COVID reports in the schools of the Northern Health region from the BC CDC can be reviewed here.

The Northern Health School exposure list is available here.

A wider overview of education themes in the Northwest can be found here.

Further notes on the response to COVID in BC can be explored from our archive page here.