Parents to protest back-to-school plan across Alberta
Posted August 21, 2020 11:02 am.
Last Updated August 21, 2020 7:28 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Parents upset with the government’s back-to-school plan are taking part in protests across the province on Friday.
Demonstrators will appear at dozens of offices belonging to UCP MLAs to protest against the lack of funding and resources to keep students and staff safe when they head back to school.
Liz Buchanan is joining one of those protests and chose to keep her kids home as many concerns still exist over the idea of going to class.
“The biggest one that’s been coming up a lot is the class sizes. With the class sizes that we’ve got in most of our schools, the physical distancing is next to impossible. That really needs to be reexamined.”
Protests will run at different times throughout the day up until 6:00 p.m.
WATCH MORE: Education protests across Alberta
Buchanan said preparing for the school year has been a challenge for her and her family.
“All my friends that I’ve talked to are struggling with the same things. These are major, massive decisions that people are having to make. They’re having to choose between their careers and their kids’ safety or a million different options.”
She said overall, there needs to be more funding for schools and the province should re-hire the 20,000 educational assistants who were let go at the beginning of the pandemic.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange has said the back to school plan was crafted based on the advice of Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer.
While the Opposition NDP has called for classrooms to be capped at 15 students, the UCP government has said that is not feasible.
