Health & Safety

This year, ETFO members have been working full out to support students and to challenge the government for the investment our public schools need.

Elizabeth Mitchell writes about the importance of prioritizing the mental and physical health of ETFO members and acknowledges the deep impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have on educators.

I want to begin by thanking every ETFO member in the province. This school year has been and continues to be incredibly difficult.

This year has been like no other and I want to thank you for your incredible work in the classroom, whether in-person or virtual.

Throughout the past several months, ETFO members have shown incredible resilience, professionalism and caring, working to provide excellent public education to students across the province under very difficult circumstances.

Federico Carvajal reflects on the Ford government’s flawed plan for school reopening in September.

You don’t need to look far for the latest advice on how not to wear a mask or whether you need to wipe down your groceries, but it is important to rely on reputable organizations that review all the latest studies and not react to every new study that is reported.

As elementary educators in Ontario you have embarked on an unprecedented year, returning to your classrooms after a historic shutdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the beginning of the school year quickly approaching as I write this in the first days of September, ETFO is ever more mindful of how important it is to get school reopening right and to ensure health and safety of both educators and students.

With the fall issue of Voice, we are focussed on the safe reopening of schools and the ways in which we build community, particularly in these challenging times when the inequities that are always present, are laid bare.