Returning to school didn't need to be this bad

Parents did their job. The government is running out of time to do theirs.

I spent the better part of this summer putting sustained thought into my children’s safe return to school. Certainly more thought than my own government did.  Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce kicked off August by announcing that their wallet was empty but that older kids would wear masks.  At the risk of appearing immodest, I had a similar plan, although it came to me several months sooner and it was largely in jest.

I’ve spent many months wondering just what, exactly, my daughters would be returning to in September.  I’m certainly not alone here.  Most parents were placed in the same odd predicament as me: choose your child’s educational delivery method, and at some point we will show you exactly what you committed yourself to.  This approach would be somewhat forgivable if it didn’t involve the health of my children or hinge on my diligence as a parent.

So it is reasonable to suspect that I may not be entirely impressed with how the return to school planning has gone.  It is a plan written by children, for children, and it has the full backing off the oddest group of doctors you will ever meet.  Let me be so bold as to suggest that if Drs. Williams and Jaffe were to open a hospital, they would find it impossible to find a willing patient, let alone liability insurance.

I decided to send my kids back to school because it is the best environment for their overall well-being and development.  This was a choice made with no small measure of reluctance and second-guessing.  I am acutely aware of the ever-shifting risk profile, and will monitor it as it changes and continue to evaluate whether or not my kids should still be in school.

For all of my misgivings about this uninspired, underfunded return to school plan, I am also quick to acknowledge that we are in a pandemic for which no almost no institutional structure was ever designed to withstand.  Schools cannot be retrofitted overnight and, as Ford has been startled to learn, even modernizing the ventilation systems is a years-long task.  I never expected perfect and I always assumed my reasonable share of the risk. 

As a parent, I have a clear obligation to educate my children in the new behaviours that are expected from them.  They are comfortable with masks, understand distancing, and are very clear about the smart behaviours that will dramatically increase their own safety and that of others.  That is to say, unequivocally:  I did my job.  And if everything goes sideways, I will exit the workforce and help educate my children.  That’s my job, too.  

I wonder if our Premier or our Minister of Education would be so bold as to tell Ontario’s worried parents that they, too, have done their jobs.  Lecce recommended lower class sizes and generously offered up the board’s reserve funds to do so.  He set an expectation and indicated how he wanted it implemented.  With both of my daughter’s re-organized into larger classes, it is clear that Lecce has not provided the needed oversight to ensure that his directives were met.  Put otherwise, he is not doing his job and his promises mean nothing.

The hallmark of youthful leadership is very often an unfortunate lack of accountability.  My family has spent the summer debating what a safe September looks like for us.  We have conducted ourselves in a manner that is very much aware of our new reality and we have given much thought to the future.  It is absolutely disheartening to see our leaders choose to spend their summer doing little else but preen and posture, only to breathlessly catch up to the rest of us and feign amazement at the complexity of the task.

As we move into September, there will be many opportunities to change policies and procedures. We will find new and better practices that best align within our existing structures. There might even be some creative ways to use empty classrooms in densely-populated areas. The success of these opportunities will very much depend on the ability of this government to demonstrate an accountability to common sense.