Nixing mask mandate for schools 'shortsighted': EPSB chair
Hamdi Issawi - Yesterday
Edmonton Public School Board Chair Trisha Estabrooks said a decision to prevent school boards from mandating mask during the COVID-19 pandemic is© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Public Schools has no plans to mandate masks for students, but for Alberta’s government to forbid a future order is “shortsighted” amid an ongoing pandemic, a school board trustee says.
Trisha Estabrooks, chairwoman of the Edmonton Public School Board, responded to Premier Danielle Smith’s statement Saturday that the province will not permit further masking mandates for Alberta grade schoolers.
“If there’s anything we’ve learned from this pandemic, it’s that we need to be nimble — we need to be flexible,” Estabrooks said. “I hope the worst of the pandemic is over. But is it?”
The premier’s statement follows the outcome of a judicial review into the United Conservative Party lifting a COVID-19 mask requirement for schools in February.
The Alberta Federation of Labour and five families of immunocompromised children prompted the review, which ultimately saw Court of King’s Bench Justice Grant Dunlop determine that the province acted unreasonably , and that politicians made the decision rather than Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.
Dunlop referred to a Feb. 10 news conference when Hinshaw referred a question about the rationale for the decision to Health Minister Jason Copping.
Estabrooks said both the board and superintendent similarly sought answers for the move, adding that it was “unfortunate” the source of the decision wasn’t more transparent.
“Health decisions need to be made by health officials,” she said.
In her statement, Smith cited “well understood,” and “detrimental” effects of mask mandates on the development, mental health and education of school children.
The premier’s office was unable to cite the evidence for those claims at the time, or whether her position against masking rules for students would apply to private schools. Her office did not respond to a followup from Postmedia on Tuesday.
Dunlop’s decision also found nothing preventing school boards from requiring masks in classrooms, despite a past statement to the contrary from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange.
The topic of masking students also follows dozens of “respiratory illness” outbreaks at Edmonton-area schools reported by Alberta Health Services.
With 213 schools in the district, Edmonton Public Schools has seen outbreaks at 41 schools since since the beginning of the 2022-23 year, most of which occurred September, spokeswoman Veronica Jubinville told Postmedia.
Addressing the board of trustees Tuesday, division superintendent Darrel Robertson reported outbreaks at six schools, which is up from only one outbreak reported on Oct. 18.
A Sept. 23 notice on the district’s website indicates Alberta Health Services has returned to a pre-pandemic reporting process, where the health authority investigates an outbreak if a school reports more than 10 per cent of students absent due to an illness.
“By and large, folks are doing a really good job of making sure that kids are staying home — or they’re staying home themselves — when they’re sick,” Robertson told the board. “That is not 100 per cent, though. Of course, we’ve heard stories of asymptomatic COVID.”
Estabrooks said that while COVID-19 undoubtedly plays a part in the outbreaks, there are other respiratory illnesses circulating.
Both students and staff still the have option of wearing masks, she added, and the district is prepared to act on the advice of health officials.
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