Terribly disappointed at the forced non-choice being imposed on BC parents, between easily-popped school bubbles deceptively sold as being small and having to withdraw from the school system entirely. #BCed #BCpoli 1/n

That the latter, homeschooling option comes with “no guarantee of regaining a place” in one’s school next year is an effective threat that weaponizes socioeconomic privilege and limits how many working parents can ever avail of this non-option.

As cases rise to the point of fines having to be imposed, it is astounding that the plan refuses to steer away from regular gatherings of intersecting bubbles (including school children and teachers, their siblings and siblings’ classmates, and the families of all of the above).

Homeschooling is a life raft, but not everyone can afford the opportunity cost of getting in. The extra spending on hygiene theatre could be spent on steering in a different direction rather than swabbing the decks as we approach an iceberg.

The plan appears to suggest that we will be able to limit the damage if (when) it hits our schools, even while charting a new course is still possible. The waters are not always safe, they say, but turbulence and seasickness are a false equivalence with steering into an iceberg.

The public handwringing about the social and psychological costs of an extended period of no in-person schooling is laughable to me as a psychologist, especially when contrasted with the anxiety of unknown long-term health consequences of an easily-transmittable serious illness.

It shouldn’t be necessary for parents to calculate what they can afford to pay to secure their children’s health. As school outbreaks go from possible to likely to inevitable, the third option of virtual instruction—the one that parents are begging for—will no doubt reappear.

We have had the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of other jurisdictions. Some lessons have been taken to heart, but others are being ignored. BC has indulged in extended self-congratulation and comforted itself through belief in a messiah during this time of distress.

I fear that the rhetoric of the next few months (no doubt already anticipated by the lawyers) will swiftly go from “we will be able to limit any outbreaks” to “these actions were rapidly taken” to “we always said schools have a risk” to “in-person instruction is suspended.”

When that happens you won’t hear about the social and psychological costs of remote instruction. You will instead hear language that insulates decision-makers from legal action.

I have great empathy for those making these tough decisions. While the post-secondary sector poses different challenges it universally erred on the side of caution (in this country). We made the decision early, invested in it, and are well prepared. If only K12 had done the same.