Thread:

I agree, building 800 new schools and hiring 13,000 teachers isn't possible. Too bad that's not what we are asking for! Perhaps a government that would meet with us could do some collaborative problem solving and make reasonable investments in school safety. #ableg #abed

There are many existing community spaces that could be used in this context. We have examples of doing this in emergencies — I remember volunteering at the university to help people housed in Lister during the Fort McMurray evac.

Older students could move to blended models to keep smaller cohorts. Other provinces have adopted this model — you could even combine with organized and cohorted study hall spaces.

Younger students could be split into small learning groups with EAs supporting teachers across a couple of small cohorts. Tech can also support this (a lot like our online learning — but with in-person instruction and support).

You would still need to hire more workers for this, likely a combination of teachers and EAs, but it wouldn't mean needing 13,000 teachers tomorrow.

Additionally, you could target hotspots with resources. A small community with few or no cases probably doesn't need the same approach as a big urban centre with high per capita case counts.

Yes, there's still a cost to this, but insisting it's $4 billion or nothing is ridiculous. There are options in between that could bring significant improvements in safety while still getting kids back into schools.

This black and white framing is pure politics that prevents actual, workable solutions. It's pointing to a ridiculous, invented cost to distract from the conversation about meaningful and viable interventions that could save lives of education workers, students, and family.

It's much like the insistence that everyone asking for a safer opening is demanding schools stay closed. It's a hyperbolic argument, and we should not treat it seriously.

I've listed a few possibilities here. I know lots of other people working in education have more ideas on how to make schools safer. For all we are told that we must listen to the medical experts, I have to ask, why should the experts in education not also be at the table?

So, I'll remind us again: the metro school boards have not been allowed by the minister to meet with @CMOH_Alberta since our meeting in the spring. Is it because they don't want us talking to her about the reality on the ground?

And I hope people are asking why, instead of creative and collaborative problem solving, the premier's best answer is to set up a strawman argument about building 800 schools rather than a sensible, well-funded strategy to implement best practices for school safety.

Seriously, for real, does he think school boards imagine we can build 800 schools overnight given that we deal with these projects all the time and know it takes 2-3 years to build a school? Come on now.

And we know there aren't 13,000 teachers on the job hunt. But there are a lot of them we could hire (some of them got laid off this year thanks to the cuts) and hiring EAs could put a lot of Albertans back to work. It's even a stimulus plan! Shocking.