Education Critic, Carla Beck and the Saskatchewan NDP are calling on the province to work with school divisions on clear rapid testing protocols.
Beck, says they’ve heard that some tests have been deployed to schools but the expertise, procedures and protocols have not been provided. She says this should have been a tool that would have helped school divisions and contributed to safety, instead what they’ve seen the government and Minister of Health do is contribute to the sense of confusion and work load for school divisions. Beck says this is the opposite of what needed to happen.
The NDP is urging the government to use the upcoming Easter break to get things right, by identifying and training personnel to deliver tests. Beck says the province promised to do this, and there wasn’t supposed to be expectations for school staff to administer tests. Beck suggests the opportunity is there, as is the urgency with variants of concern spreading outside of Regina, to Moose Jaw, Weyburn and throughout the South East and South West. She hopes that urgency will see the province collaborate with school divisions to provide certainty and support.
On Thursday it was revealed that active cases for Regina youth have gone up from 120 to 193, and from 350 to 413 in students across the province. The NDP says school boards and teachers need support with 82 new school outbreaks in a two week span.
This past week all Regina Public High Schools closed and all in-school classes are scheduled to resume on April 12th after the spring break. On Friday public and catholic school divisions in Moose Jaw sent out letters informing parents they would be switching to online learning due to variants of concern in the community.
(CJWW)