Public and Catholic School boards in Mississauga and Brampton calling for closure of schools
Published March 18, 2021 at 2:06 am
Large numbers of teachers in Brampton and Mississauga fear the COVID situation is gtting out of control and believe schools should be shut down.
Sources say that outbreaks of the virus – particularly the variants – in both the Peel District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board have reached the point where stay-at-home classes would be safer for students and teachers.
Confirmed reports say representatives of both school boards have reached out to the Ontario government asking for a complete closure, but the province has been reluctant to comply.
As well, teachers in both systems say that new protocols being put into place are heavy-handed and make it difficult to do their jobs.
“I don’t feel safe going to my teaching job every day,” an elementary school teacher told insauga.com. “None of us do. This isn’t just a health or education matter anymore. The Ministry of Labour should be investigating whether some schools are safe workplaces.”
According to data supplied by both boards, 301 cases of the virus have been confirmed in Peel Region schools right now with 20 more suspected cases. The numbers include students and teachers.
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As well, 206 classrooms have been closed between the two school systems and five schools have been shut down completely, all in the Catholic system.
The worst cases appear to be at St. Sofia Catholic Elementary School in Mississauga where 10 students and five teachers were infected which led to the closure of seven classrooms initially until the entire school was shut.
Other schools that are closed are St. Valentine and St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Mississauga, St. John Paul II in Caledon, and St. Alphonsa in Brampton.
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