CUPE members continue to play a vital role in B.C.’s response to COVID-19 through support and service to our students and vulnerable children, as well as the families of those providing essential services to all of us. I am proud that CUPE members stepped up during this challenging and ever-changing time.

Premier John Horgan announced today that schools throughout B.C. will expand in-person schooling for K-12 on a voluntary basis in June. The government is working out details and will be releasing a plan for how all grades will access additional in-school instruction. We are pleased that the government is developing plans to get kids back in schools because public schools provide a vital service to all communities.

When this crisis started, many of our members were fearful about their safety because of the varied approaches districts were taking. We need to ensure that workers get consistent information on how the safety of students and staff is being addressed in schools. Physical distancing can be a challenge in school, but all districts must follow basic safety standards as set by WorkSafe BC and the Provincial Health Officer.

Our members are on the front line, supporting essential services workers by providing child care and keeping schools clean and safe. School districts brought back daytime custodians to deal with the pandemic. With the announcement today, we know that more students and staff will be coming into schools. Not only do we need to keep those daytime custodians, we need additional custodians to be able to stay on top of disinfecting high-use surfaces and keeping schools safe.

We appreciate how difficult these last six weeks have been for CUPE members; parents; children who miss their friends, teachers and support staff; and essential services workers. Premier Horgan’s planned phases towards our ‘new normal’ allow for a dry run of bringing more students and staff into classrooms in June — but doing that safely for kids and staff.

Thank you to K-12 members for all that you do. We will get through this together.

In safety and solidarity,

Warren Williams
President K-12 Presidents Council

For more information read Premier outlines plan to restart B.C. safely.

Premier John Horgan’s Live update at 3:00pm today can be found online at: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BCProvincialGovernment/ <https://www.facebook.com/BCProvincialGovernment/>

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProvinceofBC <https://www.youtube.com/user/ProvinceofBC>

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BCGovNews <https://twitter.com/BCGovNews>

You can also watch it live at Global BC News1.

NEW WESTMINSTER—CUPE 409 President Marcel Marsolais said that reinstating daytime custodians during the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the important work they do, not only for those attending or working at child care learning centres in schools, but for everyone.

“Custodians are the unsung protectors of the K-12 sector,” said Marsolais. “They are integral in keeping schools healthy and safe for all students, including vulnerable children, and our staff. Now they also support the children of health care and other essential front-line workers in schools.”

Custodians are well-trained in the procedures and protocols developed by districts to keep schools safe. Front-line staff, including clerical support staff, monitor who is coming into each school, where they are and when then leave. Custodians then clean and disinfect areas that have been used so they are safe for the next set of users. They regularly disinfect desks and high-use surfaces.

Daytime custodians have always taken care of students and staff in schools. As well as cleaning desks, bannisters, railings and door handles, they also clean and maintain washrooms; empty garbage; patrol and pick up broken glass and dangerous debris from the school grounds; and help with school functions like assemblies.

Marsolais notes that custodians who work while school is in session provide an educational benefit to students and help build respect for ensuring students’ learning environments are safe and secure.

“I’ll bet most people can remember the name of their custodian when they went to school,” says Marsolais. “Kids build relationships with their school custodians.”

As schools gradually open, custodial work will be increasingly important in each district as more students and staff return.

“The bottom line is that custodians need to be in schools during this pandemic and need to be kept there whenever schools are in session,” said Marsolais.

“Union lobbies for return of daytime custodians in New West schools”, Julie MacLellan, New Westminster Record, April 30, 2020.

“Are BC Schools Clean Enough to Reopen?”, Katie Hyslop, The Tyee, May 4, 2020.

VICTORIA—Dr. Bonnie Henry speaks to educators and support staff about physical distancing in schools in a video released yesterday.

The PHO recognizes that schools will require flexibility when it comes to providing school care and learning opportunities. This means that there can be more than 50 students and staff in a school at any given time if they are not all in one area at the same time and are actively engaged in physical distancing to the extent possible. Understandably, physical distancing is challenging in a K-12 educational setting, particularly with younger children. At the same time, it is important that we do what we can to try to assist children and staff understand the importance of minimizing the frequency of physical contact with one another.

The following ideas on physical distancing in schools are provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control:

• Avoiding close greetings like hugs or handshakes and remind children to keep their hands to themselves when possible.
• Help younger children learn about physical distancing by creating games. For example, put on some music and have children spread their arms side to side and spin around slowly trying not to touch their friends. Older children can be provided age appropriate reading material and encouraged to self-regulate.
• Take children outside more often, perhaps breaking children into smaller groups to maintain a degree of distance.
• Organize learning activities outside including snack time, play based learning, and play time.
• Integrate cross-curricular learning activities in outdoor settings into your lesson plans and encourage younger children in play outside.
• Regularly clean and sanitize items that are designed to be shared such as manipulatives and digital devices.
• Set up mini environments within the school to reduce number of children in a group, i.e., set up 2 or 3 learning areas for numeracy and literacy activities.
• Consider different classroom configurations to maintain distance between children (e.g. separating desks) or different locations in the school (e.g. different classrooms, gym or library, outside).
• Increase the space between children and staff during activities such as snack/lunch, i.e., move or separate tables, move chairs farther apart.
• When children want to use the same activity or redirect some children to another area.
• Set up distinct areas for children who may have symptoms of illness until they can be picked up and ensure these areas are sanitized regularly.
• Consider staggering snack and lunch time so you can accommodate smaller groups with more space. Discourage any food or drink sharing.
• Consider using educational videos and online programs as a part of learning so children can sit independently and distanced from each other.