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Quebec Premier François Legault says the province is not ready to re-open schools on May 4 — a potential date he had previously floated — amid the coronavirus pandemic.

During his daily press conference on Monday, Legault said the government would need two weeks to prepare to send students back to school.

“It’s out of the question to reopen schools in the short term,” Legault said.

Legault added that he didn’t have another date in mind yet but that the government is currently looking at what it can do in terms of reopening daycare services.

“But it takes precautions. It takes the famous two metres’ [distance] and all sorts of precautions that we are discussing with public health,” the premier said.

Opening schools in September?

The news comes as a relief to Caroline Phaneuf, the chair of the English Montreal School Board Parents’ Committee (EMSBPC).

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The committee wants the province to consider re-opening schools in September at the earliest, and only if it’s deemed safe by health authorities, according to a statement released by the committee on Monday.

Phaneuf says the request was “overwhelmingly” supported by parents.

“People are scared to send their kids back; they do not feel like it’s safe. They don’t think it’s going to be worthwhile,” Phaneuf said. Tweet This

The committee believes the benefits of a premature start to school do not outweigh the potential negatives, such as putting children and staff at risk of catching the disease.

The Quebec government has suggested that reopening schools and daycares could be a way to both kickstart its economy and slow the transmission of COVID-19 in the province.

Quebec’s public health director, Horacio Arruda, has previously said it was “very excessively rare” for children to develop severe symptoms from COVID-19. Allowing them to catch the virus and become immunized would help the wider society, he said.

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“Because the more children will be, in my opinion, naturally immunized by the disease, the less they will become active vectors with older people,” Arruda said.

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Phaneuf argued that “no one is sure about that.”

Phaneuf is also concerned about children and family members with pre-existing conditions, as well as teachers and other school staff who could be affected by the disease.

“If children can only attend school a few days a week and some can’t go because of pre-existing conditions or their parents, then it still doesn’t allow a full return to work for our population,” Phaneuf said.

Phaneuf believes the number of measures needed to put in place in order to start classes again and the unknown factors are too complex.

She wonders if opening schools before fall would be feasible.

“Is this really worth the stress and the complexity? We think not. We think efforts should be focused instead in getting a good online program up and running for September,” Phaneuf said. Tweet This

Heidi Yetman, the president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers (QPAT), shares some of Phaneuf’s concerns.

She also agrees the government should further delay the reopening of schools to September.

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“Even in September, I’d be cautious. I’d do a slow entry in the fall,” Yateman said.

Yetman expects that adding COVID-19 to the mix will exacerbate pre-existing overcrowding issues in many Quebec schools.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me. You can’t have social distancing. It’s not possible. I’m very very worried about the return,” Yetman said.

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Yetman also worries about a potential shortage of teachers and supporting staff such as bus drivers.

“A lot of bus drivers are older. Are they going to go back to work? There will be a lot of teachers retiring, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Yetman said.

“If you throw everybody in the school in the fall and a lot of teachers get sick, we are going to be in a lot of trouble because we don’t have enough substitutes.” Tweet This

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For Russell Copeman, the executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), a return to school would only be possible once clear guidelines are provided by the province.

“We need clear guidelines in physical distancing. Does the two-metre distancing still need to be maintained in the classroom? What about common meal times? And for many of our boards outside the Greater Montreal area, there’s the issue of busing — how do you maintain physical distancing with young children when they are in a school bus, in normal circumstances three to a bench?” he told Global News.

A spokesperson for Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said the ministry and public health are currently evaluating different potential scenarios regarding the return to classes, but wouldn’t offer further details.

“We want to reassure parents: ultimately, we will follow the advice of public health. The health and safety of our students must be the highest priority.”

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–With files from Global’s Kalina Laframboise

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