BCTF pleading province to limit class sizes to 15 students in Fraser Health region

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The BC Teachers’ Federation is urging the province to reduce class sizes in the Fraser Health region to 15 students.

Teri Mooring, BCTF president, says the province needs to act swiftly as cases are rising dramatically and as the Fraser Health region remains a hotspot in B.C.

And with a surge in cases, Mooring tells NEWS 1130 more diagnoses in the community will lead to additional school exposures.

“Contracting the virus for someone with significant underlying conditions is really dire, and we don’t want to see that happening,” she says.

Tead @TeriMooring's letter to @jjhorgan. #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/UKWrMPYD1Y

— BC Teachers’ Federation (@bctf) November 14, 2020

“We also are aware that we have teachers with underlying conditions, who have requested accommodations and have not received them. In some cases those accommodations include constructing transparent barriers to protect teachers and students … for some reason, the barriers are being resisted by some school districts.”

Mooring says adding barriers in classrooms — in some cases — will make people feel more comfortable since B.C. teachers agree that it’s virtually impossible to maintain physically distancing in classrooms.

A motion to limit class sizes to 15 was passed over the weekend, with more than 300 teachers supporting the plan.

“Physical distancing and the mask-wearing is a critical preventative measures that’s been missing in classrooms, right from the very start of the school year.”

RELATED: 

• B.C. labour board to provide neutral ‘troubleshooters’ for COVID-19 school plans

• B.C. schools doing a ‘very good job’ curbing COVID-19 transmissions: Dr. Henry

• Who oversees compliance with COVID-19 guidelines in B.C. schools?

According to provincial health officials, another daily COVID-19 record broke Friday as the province recorded 617 cases.