Teachers' union urging Quebec to install air purifiers in poorly ventilated classrooms
Quebec's major teachers union federation (FAE) is urging the government to install air purifiers in all classrooms where ventilation is deemed inadequate.
As the Omicron variant wave sweeps the province, "air quality should be at the heart of the strategy to combat COVID-19 in schools," the FAE said in a news release.
The majority of primary and secondary students are expected to return to face-to-face classes on Jan. 17.
But some, including those in specialized classes for students with disabilities, returned to school as early as Jan. 3.
Often, these are school populations that are "heavily handicapped and for whom compliance with rules related to, among other things, the wearing of procedural masks and physical distancing is particularly difficult, if not impossible," the release said.
In Montreal's school services centre alone, "since January 3, 16 of the 24 classes have been closed because of outbreaks," said FAE president Sylvain Mallette in a telephone interview.
While the settings in question come with unique issues, he said the numbers are a taste of the problems that could be found in many classrooms.
"Teachers feel that not all safety measures are in place," he said, calling for teachers to have access to N95 masks.
The ventilation issue is not new.
Last April, the Legault government revealed that just over half of the 15,000 classrooms tested had satisfactory ventilation.
About 1,000 other classrooms were removed from the calculation because of faulty or missing measurements, after a Radio-Canada investigation revealed that the testing protocol was not followed in the majority of cases studied, distorting the results. The investigation led the FAE to be suspicious of the department's data for the remaining 15,000 classrooms.
The government promised that CO2 readers, which measure air quality, would be installed in all classrooms before the start of the school year. This deadline was then pushed back to the fall and then to mid-December.
"Today, thousands of teachers and hundreds of thousands of students in Quebec are paying the price for the government's erratic management of ventilation and air quality," said Mallette.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 11, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
'We are declaring our readiness': No decision made yet as Poland declares it's ready to host nuclear weapons
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Central Alberta queer groups react to request from Red Deer-South to reinstate Jennifer Johnson to UCP caucus
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.