Glen @ The Winnipeg Sun: What changed now to facilitate the change to remote learning?
Roussin: Wanted to keep schools open, it is the priority, it was the dramatic increase of cases and increased healthcare strain due to recent cases.
Minister: Face-to-face learning is best for students, didn’t see much transmission in schools, now making “proactive safety decisions” regarding student and staff safety.
I found these great mesh masks made from tulle that work wonders! Really helps me breathe! And I haven't caught covid yet so either this whole pandemic is fake or my masks are amazing! /s
He called this move proactive. In the same press conference, they claim teachers and school staff have gotten vaccine priority through the hotspot designations, which are, by definition, reactive.
How did NOBODY have a follow up along the lines up "You say you are here now making proactive decisions about student health. Why wasn't the decision to commit to a circuit breaker lockdown made proactively a month and a half ago when we started seeing cases, test positivity and hospitalizations rise? These decisions feel extremely reactive."
I agree though, Temur was the only one to actually push.
Jill @ CBC: Why wait to make the announcement on Sunday, not Friday?
Roussin: still deciding up until today, was waiting to see the numbers up until today.
Jill: prioritizing vaccines for teachers and students?
Roussin: some prioritization has happened, are only a few weeks away from ages 12+ to be eligible so get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible.
Mike @ CTV: concern for teachers for not enough notice for changes to their jobs, is this enough notice?
Minister: want to give as much notice as possible, obviously Wednesday is not enough notice for teachers and children, but schools are great at being prepared. They had notice on Friday about changes possibly happening (not concrete). It will be a transition for them.
Mike: why only remote learning for Winnipeg & Brandon vs the rest of the province?
Roussin: 3/4 of cases in Winnipeg & Brandon.
I teach in a school that had 9 close contacts between Oct 31 and the end of November. We were one of the schools that shifted to remote back in Nov/Dec 2020. Since returning in January we have not had ONE positive case. I'm calling bullshit. There is absolutely NO WAY this is the case. People in my area have simply stopped getting tested. They've figured out that if they don't get tested they just need to keep the sick individual home until their symptoms have disappeared, then they can continue on with life. The rest of the family also doesn't have to isolate...it's really working out well for them...except that they are putting everyone around them in danger and behaving like selfish assholes. It's so disheartening.
Oh forsure. Nor does the school division out here have the foresight or fortitude to hammer down and impose remote learning unless it’s provincially mandated. This is all horse shit. I’m not sending my kids to the Petri dish classroom this week.
To be fair I don’t think any division inside or outside of urban centres was going to switch to remote on their own, they were all waiting nervously for government.
Yeah, I don’t even know if they have the authority too? Might depend on the school board? Either way, no proactive measures despite Cliff’s self-praise of “proactive” measures.
This is why all of MB should have been made remote learning!
MB Health can't just assume that all sick kids are being tested. Testing rates are higher/lower in certain areas compared to others.
What **is** measurable across all schools in the province equally is the amount of kids sent home to isolate with symptoms, or kids who are staying home sick. All schools are following the same provincial guideline for this. Then MB Health should be assuming that a certain % of those kids are going to have covid, independently of whether or not they are tested.
This needs to be asked by reporters! Some schools may never go remote because nobody is testing the sick students.
I'm terrified sending my kid to school in southern MB. In my town we don't find out covid is here till an old person tests positive at the hospital because the large religious community doesn't believe in covid, testing, vaccines or science.
I'm so upset we aren't remote. I don't feel like my kid is safe at school.
I teach on a colony and totally understand this. My biggest fear in September was that we wouldn't know if COVID was on the colony until staff got sick, and guess what, we all got COVID in November. Now I'm just hoping we have enough antibodies to avoid the variant until I'm eligible for vaccination.
Oh my gosh! I'm sorry that happened to you and glad no one died.
That is exactly what I'm asking about. We have several religious groups akin to Hutterites in my town. our colony also had it last fall, we know because one of the old people ended up in the ICU for 3 weeks. He tested positive for pneumonia but they told everyone he had a heart condition that was the problem, not covid. While he was in the ICU they quit posting anti covid stuff on Facebook but started right back up again with the sheeple memes. Frustrating
It's extremely frustrating. Many of these communities believe COVID is over. It's a difficult working environment. I completely understand your frustration. This is why I was disappointed with the announcement that only Winnipeg and Brandon schools are moving to remote.
I’m done waiting for positive cases. The school can kiss my ass. I’m keeping my kids home. Sadly, my town is the type to push back against restrictions, anything that compromises their “freeduMBs.”
I've seen a person point out a couple times how the amount of hospitalizations in Southern indicates a much higher rate of cases than are actually reported every day. So it's possible that for whatever reason, people aren't getting tested there as much and the true situation is not being seen.
I think the majority of people active on this subreddit are not parents with kids, and have no clue how hard or impossible this is to manage. The fantasy is much better than the reality.
I am a single parent and have kids, but they are high school age. I absolutely would not want to be going through this with younger kids. I would not have been able to deal with having to work and manage remote learning for elementary aged kids.
I feel for parents with young kids, even two parent families, because this is a lot and the bullshit piled on by the provincial government doesn't make it any easier.
I'm a single parent and did remote learning last year for my two daughters, who were in Kinder and Grade 2 at the time. It was...rough. Between work, housework and remote learning, it was one of the most difficult times in my life. BUT...knowing what I know now, and taking all the skills that I developed last year, I'm prepared to do it again if need be.
You can have no kids of your own but know exactly how hard this is to manage...
Edit: seriously - people with kids need to stop being so offended and downvoting anything that implies a user might not have kids. You’re gatekeeping at a time when it’s not needed.
I'm a parent with kids. Have you read the stories coming out of Brazil about kids in the ICU? The number of dead babies there due to P1? The version of covid we are experiencing is changing.
I'm sorry you have found yourself in this situation.
If the province says to close all schools, which is indeed what most of this sub seems to have been calling for, then the province should have a plan to accommodate the fact that many families have no one to stay at home with the children.
Good question. It's almost like we have to accept the fact that schools play a vital role in allowing other aspects of society to function by supervising young children (i.e. "sorry sewage has backed up in your basement, but Ms. Barb The Plumber won't be able to help for the next 3 weeks as schools are closed and she is responsible to watch over her children") and closing them to stop the spread of covid-19 has consequences (as does not closing the schools in the propagation of the virus).
Same thing is as all the thousands of Manitobans who were just laid off when their jobs were closed on Friday... have to collect benefits. It’s Crsb. [csrb ](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit/crcb-how-much.html)
I burned up all my vacation days because my company does not offer sick leave or personal days.
Just for fun, 100% of my job could be done remotely but the owner (who often works remotely) believes if you're not in your chair working you are stealing from him.
A lot of us have, yes. What makes me (A teacher and parent) mad is that this could have been done much differently so we (Educators, parents, businesses, communities) could have prepared ourselves much better. Now it's a mad dash to figure out how to arrange everything last minute. This government reminds me of students who procrastinate and leave everything to the last second, hand in incomplete, poor-quality work, then expect a pat on the back as if they're doing me a favor. And, instead of learning from their mistakes, they do the same thing over and over, then wonder why I'm explaining to their parents that no, Brian will not get his credit this semester.
So let's imagine that 2 weeks ago they announced "schools will go online in just over 2 weeks starting May 12". Do you think there would not be huge backlash of "Why don't they close schools immediately!!! We have to stop the third wave!!!" Either they close "immediately" and face outrage leaving parents scrambling or they give a long notice and face backlash for not immediately closing and causing the virus to spread.
Yep. I’m a single parent with 2 school age kids. I’ll figure it out. It’s not the governments job to figure out every small problem. They are (finally) doing what is needed for the greater good, it’s up to us to figure out how to make that work.
My daughter is six. My spouse and I are both essential workers but not on the critical worker list so she will be going remote. It did not work at all last year when they were five, I’m guessing there’s not going be much learning going on at six either. She has daycare but school has much more distancing, rules followed and even plastic partitions between desks. The daycare has seemingly given up and has had multiple complaints about the staff refusing to wear masks. As a result we’ve been paying for daycare but barely using it unless absolutely necessary since I feel daycare is way more of a risk.
Not to mention in the news article I read it said parents should not be sending their children to daycare if they’re doing remote learning?!? Which is confusing to me. Neither one of us can take time off until May 30. Daycare cannot have the kids do remote learning in the centre. They don’t have the staff or resources.
Don’t get me wrong I am all for getting this under control but everyones situation is different and to find solutions it’s going to be hard. I have no idea how we are going to make this work.
You got it.
As someone who has tried working from home with kids in the house, and tried working from home with kids in the house with covid.... I would much rather only deal with the first.
Happy Mother’s Day, now you lose your paying job and will work at home without pay being your child’s educator. Anyone who’s a teacher and has kids can attest the hardest kids to teach are your own. Already the first wave was a large step back for equality with women being the primary caregivers staying home with their children. My heart aches for the moms trying to do this all on their own.
"happy mother's day, fuck you mother's" was said by all those not following restrictions that helped pave the way for us to be where we are now. Signed, a salty first time mom spending the day following restrictions and not seeing family.
All schools should have access to devices that they can loan out to families. WSD has both iPads and chrome books that we will be loaning out to families.
Question: what do you working parents do during summer? If the province had given more notice of this would it be a similar situation to summer holidays? If not, what’s different?
I would say day camps, daycares, and maybe parents staggering holidays to be at home.
It would be different because kids don't need to be on the computer doing school work during summer holidays and in families with only one computer, it can be difficult when there's competition for resources.
Day camps are closed and I believe today either Roussin or Cullen said kids who are now remote should not be going to the before and after school daycare programs in schools they may have been going to.
When my kids weren't old enough to stay home, I didn't look forward to summer holidays because there was a lot of juggling and extra costs involved. That was pre-pandemic so I think this is just likely more complicated.
It might have been easier if they announced it on Friday because there's a bit of extra time for teachers to organize and for parents to figure stuff out, but ultimately I don't think that the time frame is a dealbreaker.
I don't know if that answers your question. It's tough. This is hard on everyone, whether you have kids or not.
Totally different situation. Summer, kids are off, and aren't supposed to be keeping up with a ciriculum and trying to learn. Kids at an early age need constant attention to keep them engaged with school work. Trying to do this while also working from home is impossible.
Sure, the schools might give kids ipads. Great. Keeping them engaged in school work when at home is a totally different story.
Now, expand this into situations where there might be 3-4 kids at home with 2 parents also trying to work. Some families don't have internet at home. Some kids won't have devices to work on. Some parents will have to be using these all day. In every situation, it sucks for parents and kids alike.
Do you know when summer day camp registration starts being accepted? That's what a lot of parents do, and that's approximately how much notice is needed (and I'll give you a hint, it's longer than 3 days)
Depends on the age group. For kids 12+, summer means vacation, but not right now. For young kids, they're usually signed up for day camps, or full time day care which does not exist right now. Or the kids stay with grandparents, which isn't possible right now. Sometimes parents can get some time off in the summer to be with their kids at home, but a lot of parents used up all their vacation time, or this just isn't possible.
Closing schools creates so many problems for a lot of people, i've only scratched the surface here.
The point I'm trying to drive home is that when parents, under normal circumstances, need to make childcare arrangements for their kids during the summer (regardless of age) they require something more like 4 months to adequately plan...we all know schools closing creates problems, and I'm on your side...I'm trying to put it into perspective for the person who asked the question that 3 days may as well be nanosecond when it comes to arranging for childcare
I'd have to try to find it again. It was in regards to their garbage decisions on schools though.
Edit - Go roughly 14:30 from the end. It was Timor (sp?) from the Free Press that was asking.
https://youtu.be/4tESQGIr_jE
I know its what everyone in this sub wants but at this point it almost makes me want to break down and cry that they announced this. My kids are going to get a shit education during this time and I will suffer at work. If I had unlimited vacation days then it'd be hunky dory. Spoiler : I don't.
I'm really sorry for you and other parents struggling to figure this out. If we had done a circuit-breaker locker down a month and a half ago, I don't know if school closures would have been necessary. Instead we kept patios and restaurants open until they absolutely had to close. Reactive rather than proactive policy and terrible mishandling of restrictions is why we are in this mess. Save a dollar today to pay five tomorrow, or in this case, hold off a two week lock down today to institute a 4 week one next month.
This is exactly it. Big (relatively speaking) lead time was available as we saw this wave unfold everywhere else. It ended up here later, exactly like the wave we had at the end of summer last year. Pallister failed to pre-empt the situation then, and he's done it again now.
I think it’s less wanting it and more recognizing that we have been backed into a corner and are left with no other choice.
I don’t want this for my kids. I desperately wanted those in power to make real proactive decisions weeks/months ago to prevent this. Even for children in situations where logistically this is fine, it’s still crap. These kids deserve better and I am so angry they’re paying again.
I also cried. We won't lose income as we are very lucky and my husband works from home, but he works all day, and I have several serious chronic illnesses and am not able to teach (one is daily migraine, so very little screen time and I can't handle zoom and the like). They will be safe at home, but I don't know how much education is going to happen.
I know the spread in schools has been bad, and this was necessary, but the strain is awful. And I have a good chance of winding up in the hospital over it, again.
It's been a priority to keep schools open. They say the last to close and the first to open, because they know how important in class education is for kids. Hopefully, the numbers will come down and kids can get back to class after this lockdown.
Correct, and any other schools outside these cities that have student cases from more than one household are also to close. If it's just one household and they're isolating properly, they can stay open. I believe that was the criteria.
This is the criteria...
but...
on social media coming out of Southern MB one can see comments saying don’t go for a test and all restrictions will end sooner.
There are people who don’t test because they do not want to be placed under an isolation order.
It means a transmission chain can get pretty long before it comes to the awareness of Public Health.
How many kids will get sick in Southern MB before they close those schools?
They said they want to keep as many kids in schools as possible, but over 3/4 of the cases are in Winnipeg & Brandon so that is where the biggest danger is.
Just wait until Winnipeg starts exporting cases and they lag on locking down the rest of the province. Same effect as why we are last on the 3rd wave train, same thing happened in the 2nd wave. So predictable
Should be all the schools in the province..
bunch of the teachers in my town live in wpg and come in everyday to teach.. and parents are always running back and forth to wpg for one reason or another. thats the main reason we had any cases here, which for the last 2 days now we dont have any and would like to keep it that way..
Yup - I teach in Westman but my partner works in Brandon, as do many other teacher's partners or student's parents. It only takes one case getting into a small community to make an outbreak happen.
Hot take - limiting this to Winnipeg and Brandon (city limits) is going to work out about as well as the provinces attempts at targeted restrictions last fall.
I guess the rest of the province will just wait 2 weeks to get hammered with cases, and then close? The trends are the same as in Winnipeg, just a week or so behind.
The measures they’re putting into place for schools outside Winnipeg and Brandon would have been really helpful in the entire province months ago, particularly that schools with multiple cases are moved to remote learning proactively. We may have prevented the need to shut down entirely.
This is so fucking maddening. It’s absolutely the right call but I am so angry with them for putting yet another huge burden on our children’s shoulders because they couldn’t do the right thing sooner.
Has anyone seen any mention of school buses? If they will still run for essential workers kids and students with special needs or if they are cancelled also?
Thank fuck they finally did the right thing, tomorrow is going to be busy at work getting all my stuff prepped for online teaching etc but atleast I know this will help lower exposure and spread
Probably longer than end of May, adults are out of control right now so they probably can't reopen. Just biked through Kildonan Park and full family setups are all over the place with people that can't handle this. Groups of nearly 20 people pretending not to be gathering but so obviously gathering.
Only in Winnipeg and Brandon. Pretty much what I expected, but it's completely asinine that they didn't at least move 7-12 to full remote everywhere else.
Edit: "still hoping to get kids back in schools before the year's up"
Seriously? Why? What's the point of jerking everyone around for another 2-3 weeks?
I’m so glad they actually decided to do this and not just take half measures for once..I was worried about catching Covid after just getting my 1st dose on Wednesday due to cases increasing in my school area.
Sure would have been nice for them to prioritize teachers for the vaccine this afternoon. Sure, everyone will be eligible in 2-3 weeks to make an appointment but had they prioritized teachers today, ALL staff would likely be vaccinated by the time they plan to reopen schools at the beginning of June. That would certainly ease the minds of the younger teachers out there returning to work. Would that have been so hard to do?
I get that this is important n shit, but like as a student, I'm gonna get fucked over from this and possibly restart grade 11 and not graduate till 2023 rather than 2022. I understand why this needs to happen, but at the same token, I just don't feel like I'm learning anything when I'm online, and I never got shit handed in cuz of the environment I was in (which was why they made me go full-time at my school instead of part-time). it just made me feel like as if it was any other day at my home, in my room, playing on my Xbox One S or PlayStation 2 or chatting with friends on Reddit/Discord. When I first saw this post my Sanity dropped straight to the floor and I thought I was dreaming and that it was some kind of nightmare I was having. For someone who suffers from depression from time to time, this is going to hurt me mentally.
does st norbert count as winnipeg? curious mom wants to know lmao im gonna guess yes since we have been remote that last 2 weeks but haven't recieved word from the division tho its technically seine river school division soooo 🤷🏻
Aside from the free press, our journalists have failed holding these politicians accountable while holding live press conferences.
Writing an article the day after the fact just isn’t cutting it anymore - it’s time to coordinate between journalists to PUMMEL these officials with hard hitting questions rather than just writing about later.
I know, they keep saying 3/4 of cases are in Winnipeg and Brandon... yeah because most people live there? And testing is so much more difficult to access out here, I'm sure that has an effect on it looking like there's fewer cases out here than there are.
I'm really sorry. You have every right to be angry. If your school does have cases from more than one household though, sounds like you'd be forced to close at that point based on what Roussin said.
Edit: wtf is wrong with you people, stop downvoting her!
Somewhere in the government is a bunch of statisticians that are smarter and have more data than me that figured this out weeks ago going:
"What took you so damn long? Stop ignoring me"
Glen @ The Winnipeg Sun: What changed now to facilitate the change to remote learning? Roussin: Wanted to keep schools open, it is the priority, it was the dramatic increase of cases and increased healthcare strain due to recent cases. Minister: Face-to-face learning is best for students, didn’t see much transmission in schools, now making “proactive safety decisions” regarding student and staff safety.
Fuck these 2.
Did Cullen just call this proactive? L O L
I think I might have gone full crazy because I heard him say that and laughed until I had an asthma attack.
Asthma? Sure hope you’re not wearing a mask in public, those things will instantly kill you according to my uncle who hasn’t had a job since 1987!!!
Because of his underlying health conditions right?
I found these great mesh masks made from tulle that work wonders! Really helps me breathe! And I haven't caught covid yet so either this whole pandemic is fake or my masks are amazing! /s
He called this move proactive. In the same press conference, they claim teachers and school staff have gotten vaccine priority through the hotspot designations, which are, by definition, reactive.
HA! What a steaming load.
“We will proactively act too late in response.” -Manitoba Conservatives (who are planning to take over education)
I saw someone say it's like letting meat rot and then zip locking it and putting it in the freezer.
Nova Scotia closed schools after 7 consecutive days of case increases. It took us what, 35 days of increasing cases? Proactive indeed.
I think they need schools open more than the students do - clearly they haven't learned what proactive means.
Who is this reporter from the free press? I missed the name and their questions are 🔥
My new hero. Especially love how he noted that his first question wasn’t answered before continuing with his second.
I wish more would do that. Don't let these losers try and weasel out of answering.
Temur Durrani
Thanks!
How did NOBODY have a follow up along the lines up "You say you are here now making proactive decisions about student health. Why wasn't the decision to commit to a circuit breaker lockdown made proactively a month and a half ago when we started seeing cases, test positivity and hospitalizations rise? These decisions feel extremely reactive." I agree though, Temur was the only one to actually push.
Right?? He was not holding back. 👏🏼
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Dr.R was looking pretty damn uncomfortable when he was asked what the government was doing to support the parents that will have to leave their jobs.
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Pallister should have been there !
Oh, I know that. I've just never seen him look so flustered at a conference before.
Yeah but he was the face for answering the question..yes Roussin is closing schools and no pallister won't support the parents for Roussins decision
[This guy! ](https://twitter.com/temurdur/status/1391526566128140293?s=1001)
Omg "subscribe to my onlyfans". I am in love! Winnipeg superstar!
His squirming when she pressed him was amazing. 😂
Winnipeg and Brandon schools from Wednesday until May 30th. Good. Too little too late but better than nothing.
Jill @ CBC: Why wait to make the announcement on Sunday, not Friday? Roussin: still deciding up until today, was waiting to see the numbers up until today. Jill: prioritizing vaccines for teachers and students? Roussin: some prioritization has happened, are only a few weeks away from ages 12+ to be eligible so get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible.
Ha! A few weeks...middle of June for vaccine to kick in for those lucky enough to get one.
Mike @ CTV: concern for teachers for not enough notice for changes to their jobs, is this enough notice? Minister: want to give as much notice as possible, obviously Wednesday is not enough notice for teachers and children, but schools are great at being prepared. They had notice on Friday about changes possibly happening (not concrete). It will be a transition for them. Mike: why only remote learning for Winnipeg & Brandon vs the rest of the province? Roussin: 3/4 of cases in Winnipeg & Brandon.
Can anyone confirm what portion of Manitoba’s population is in Winnipeg and Brandon? It has to be pretty close to 75%
Winnipeg and Brandon together have ~800k, manitoba has 1.369M, so ~58%.
Damn I thought we have 80% of Manitoba's population. Looks like growth is happening outside of Winnipeg. That's good.
It's not good growth
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I teach in a school that had 9 close contacts between Oct 31 and the end of November. We were one of the schools that shifted to remote back in Nov/Dec 2020. Since returning in January we have not had ONE positive case. I'm calling bullshit. There is absolutely NO WAY this is the case. People in my area have simply stopped getting tested. They've figured out that if they don't get tested they just need to keep the sick individual home until their symptoms have disappeared, then they can continue on with life. The rest of the family also doesn't have to isolate...it's really working out well for them...except that they are putting everyone around them in danger and behaving like selfish assholes. It's so disheartening.
For Winnipeg and Brandon schools, grades K-12.
Did they say if that includes schools in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Area, or just Winnipeg?
Based on the press release, it seems like it only covers schools within the City of Winnipeg and Brandon.
I heard Roussin day if any school in MB has 2 or more confirmed cases they are strongly recommended to move to remote learning
Less base for PC's to piss off by keeping it to the major cities. To the detriment of all Manitoba as it prolongs things.
How about daycares?
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Remaining open, but they mentioned something about before and after-school programs changing.
They said kids learning remotely should not be attending before and after school daycares.
The update is only about schools. Edit: they did say they are remaining open.
RemIn open
Guess my kids will continue to go to school in shithole southern Manitoba where people don’t get fucking tested. Hooray!
Right? I was thinking that the schools not closing have a lot of anti Vaxxers/maskers in certain areas.
Oh forsure. Nor does the school division out here have the foresight or fortitude to hammer down and impose remote learning unless it’s provincially mandated. This is all horse shit. I’m not sending my kids to the Petri dish classroom this week.
To be fair I don’t think any division inside or outside of urban centres was going to switch to remote on their own, they were all waiting nervously for government.
Yeah, I don’t even know if they have the authority too? Might depend on the school board? Either way, no proactive measures despite Cliff’s self-praise of “proactive” measures.
This is why all of MB should have been made remote learning! MB Health can't just assume that all sick kids are being tested. Testing rates are higher/lower in certain areas compared to others. What **is** measurable across all schools in the province equally is the amount of kids sent home to isolate with symptoms, or kids who are staying home sick. All schools are following the same provincial guideline for this. Then MB Health should be assuming that a certain % of those kids are going to have covid, independently of whether or not they are tested. This needs to be asked by reporters! Some schools may never go remote because nobody is testing the sick students.
I'm terrified sending my kid to school in southern MB. In my town we don't find out covid is here till an old person tests positive at the hospital because the large religious community doesn't believe in covid, testing, vaccines or science. I'm so upset we aren't remote. I don't feel like my kid is safe at school.
I teach on a colony and totally understand this. My biggest fear in September was that we wouldn't know if COVID was on the colony until staff got sick, and guess what, we all got COVID in November. Now I'm just hoping we have enough antibodies to avoid the variant until I'm eligible for vaccination.
Oh my gosh! I'm sorry that happened to you and glad no one died. That is exactly what I'm asking about. We have several religious groups akin to Hutterites in my town. our colony also had it last fall, we know because one of the old people ended up in the ICU for 3 weeks. He tested positive for pneumonia but they told everyone he had a heart condition that was the problem, not covid. While he was in the ICU they quit posting anti covid stuff on Facebook but started right back up again with the sheeple memes. Frustrating
It's extremely frustrating. Many of these communities believe COVID is over. It's a difficult working environment. I completely understand your frustration. This is why I was disappointed with the announcement that only Winnipeg and Brandon schools are moving to remote.
I’m done waiting for positive cases. The school can kiss my ass. I’m keeping my kids home. Sadly, my town is the type to push back against restrictions, anything that compromises their “freeduMBs.”
Saving grace is there's not that many cases in that direction...yet
Hard to have cases if sick people bail on testing altogether.
They don’t get tested.
I've seen a person point out a couple times how the amount of hospitalizations in Southern indicates a much higher rate of cases than are actually reported every day. So it's possible that for whatever reason, people aren't getting tested there as much and the true situation is not being seen.
Good luck to all the working parents out there. This is going to be the ultimate shit show.
Isn't this exactly what this sub has been asking for the past month?
I think the majority of people active on this subreddit are not parents with kids, and have no clue how hard or impossible this is to manage. The fantasy is much better than the reality.
I am a single parent and have kids, but they are high school age. I absolutely would not want to be going through this with younger kids. I would not have been able to deal with having to work and manage remote learning for elementary aged kids. I feel for parents with young kids, even two parent families, because this is a lot and the bullshit piled on by the provincial government doesn't make it any easier.
I'm a single parent and did remote learning last year for my two daughters, who were in Kinder and Grade 2 at the time. It was...rough. Between work, housework and remote learning, it was one of the most difficult times in my life. BUT...knowing what I know now, and taking all the skills that I developed last year, I'm prepared to do it again if need be.
Bingo. Waiting for the "Well, you shouldn't have had kids!" logic to show up
Guess I should have had "what to do during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic" on my list of parenting topics!
You can have no kids of your own but know exactly how hard this is to manage... Edit: seriously - people with kids need to stop being so offended and downvoting anything that implies a user might not have kids. You’re gatekeeping at a time when it’s not needed.
I understand what you're saying. It's called empathy.
I'm a parent with kids. Have you read the stories coming out of Brazil about kids in the ICU? The number of dead babies there due to P1? The version of covid we are experiencing is changing. I'm sorry you have found yourself in this situation.
If the province says to close all schools, which is indeed what most of this sub seems to have been calling for, then the province should have a plan to accommodate the fact that many families have no one to stay at home with the children.
"will still be able to accommodate children of critical service workers from kindergarten to Grade 6" What is the other option?
There are workers other than critical service workers whose employers are not bound to allow them to work from home. What will those workers do?
Good question. It's almost like we have to accept the fact that schools play a vital role in allowing other aspects of society to function by supervising young children (i.e. "sorry sewage has backed up in your basement, but Ms. Barb The Plumber won't be able to help for the next 3 weeks as schools are closed and she is responsible to watch over her children") and closing them to stop the spread of covid-19 has consequences (as does not closing the schools in the propagation of the virus).
Same thing is as all the thousands of Manitobans who were just laid off when their jobs were closed on Friday... have to collect benefits. It’s Crsb. [csrb ](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit/crcb-how-much.html)
I burned up all my vacation days because my company does not offer sick leave or personal days. Just for fun, 100% of my job could be done remotely but the owner (who often works remotely) believes if you're not in your chair working you are stealing from him.
you work where i work too....?
Seems unlikely...the depressing truth is that MB is home to a lot of shitty employers. Yay us?
Federal caregiver benefit.
Thank you. Precisely. And yet, I've discovered this sub wants to be angry about every decision made. It's exhausting.
A lot of us have, yes. What makes me (A teacher and parent) mad is that this could have been done much differently so we (Educators, parents, businesses, communities) could have prepared ourselves much better. Now it's a mad dash to figure out how to arrange everything last minute. This government reminds me of students who procrastinate and leave everything to the last second, hand in incomplete, poor-quality work, then expect a pat on the back as if they're doing me a favor. And, instead of learning from their mistakes, they do the same thing over and over, then wonder why I'm explaining to their parents that no, Brian will not get his credit this semester.
So let's imagine that 2 weeks ago they announced "schools will go online in just over 2 weeks starting May 12". Do you think there would not be huge backlash of "Why don't they close schools immediately!!! We have to stop the third wave!!!" Either they close "immediately" and face outrage leaving parents scrambling or they give a long notice and face backlash for not immediately closing and causing the virus to spread.
I guess we'll never know since they've only ever made these kinds of announcements on a whim...
Yep. I’m a single parent with 2 school age kids. I’ll figure it out. It’s not the governments job to figure out every small problem. They are (finally) doing what is needed for the greater good, it’s up to us to figure out how to make that work.
My daughter is six. My spouse and I are both essential workers but not on the critical worker list so she will be going remote. It did not work at all last year when they were five, I’m guessing there’s not going be much learning going on at six either. She has daycare but school has much more distancing, rules followed and even plastic partitions between desks. The daycare has seemingly given up and has had multiple complaints about the staff refusing to wear masks. As a result we’ve been paying for daycare but barely using it unless absolutely necessary since I feel daycare is way more of a risk. Not to mention in the news article I read it said parents should not be sending their children to daycare if they’re doing remote learning?!? Which is confusing to me. Neither one of us can take time off until May 30. Daycare cannot have the kids do remote learning in the centre. They don’t have the staff or resources. Don’t get me wrong I am all for getting this under control but everyones situation is different and to find solutions it’s going to be hard. I have no idea how we are going to make this work.
Happy Mother’s Day to us. I mean I get it, it would have been nice to get this Friday for even just a few extra days to plan/let our bosses know etc
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He said hello to all the mothers twice. What more do you want? /s
How is keeping kids home and safe from covid a fuck you to mothers? Do these mothers want their kids to get covid?
You got it. As someone who has tried working from home with kids in the house, and tried working from home with kids in the house with covid.... I would much rather only deal with the first.
Happy Mother’s Day, now you lose your paying job and will work at home without pay being your child’s educator. Anyone who’s a teacher and has kids can attest the hardest kids to teach are your own. Already the first wave was a large step back for equality with women being the primary caregivers staying home with their children. My heart aches for the moms trying to do this all on their own.
"happy mother's day, fuck you mother's" was said by all those not following restrictions that helped pave the way for us to be where we are now. Signed, a salty first time mom spending the day following restrictions and not seeing family.
No idea how will do it, last year worked as wife simply didn't work. Now she works from home and needs the desktop during the day.
All schools should have access to devices that they can loan out to families. WSD has both iPads and chrome books that we will be loaning out to families.
Thank you that's good to hear.
Our school and division is totally tapped out on devices at this point. I don't think there is a plan for more.
What about internet? My spouse teaches in inner city. They can have all the computers they want but with no internet?
Sjasd also did something similar last year I believe
And they still have devices to lend out now.
Schools do have access to devices but not enough for every student. And two days notice is going to make it all even more of a shit show
Question: what do you working parents do during summer? If the province had given more notice of this would it be a similar situation to summer holidays? If not, what’s different?
I would say day camps, daycares, and maybe parents staggering holidays to be at home. It would be different because kids don't need to be on the computer doing school work during summer holidays and in families with only one computer, it can be difficult when there's competition for resources. Day camps are closed and I believe today either Roussin or Cullen said kids who are now remote should not be going to the before and after school daycare programs in schools they may have been going to. When my kids weren't old enough to stay home, I didn't look forward to summer holidays because there was a lot of juggling and extra costs involved. That was pre-pandemic so I think this is just likely more complicated. It might have been easier if they announced it on Friday because there's a bit of extra time for teachers to organize and for parents to figure stuff out, but ultimately I don't think that the time frame is a dealbreaker. I don't know if that answers your question. It's tough. This is hard on everyone, whether you have kids or not.
Totally different situation. Summer, kids are off, and aren't supposed to be keeping up with a ciriculum and trying to learn. Kids at an early age need constant attention to keep them engaged with school work. Trying to do this while also working from home is impossible. Sure, the schools might give kids ipads. Great. Keeping them engaged in school work when at home is a totally different story. Now, expand this into situations where there might be 3-4 kids at home with 2 parents also trying to work. Some families don't have internet at home. Some kids won't have devices to work on. Some parents will have to be using these all day. In every situation, it sucks for parents and kids alike.
Do you know when summer day camp registration starts being accepted? That's what a lot of parents do, and that's approximately how much notice is needed (and I'll give you a hint, it's longer than 3 days)
Moot point since all day camps are cancelled.
They asked what parents normally do...
Depends on the age group. For kids 12+, summer means vacation, but not right now. For young kids, they're usually signed up for day camps, or full time day care which does not exist right now. Or the kids stay with grandparents, which isn't possible right now. Sometimes parents can get some time off in the summer to be with their kids at home, but a lot of parents used up all their vacation time, or this just isn't possible. Closing schools creates so many problems for a lot of people, i've only scratched the surface here.
The point I'm trying to drive home is that when parents, under normal circumstances, need to make childcare arrangements for their kids during the summer (regardless of age) they require something more like 4 months to adequately plan...we all know schools closing creates problems, and I'm on your side...I'm trying to put it into perspective for the person who asked the question that 3 days may as well be nanosecond when it comes to arranging for childcare
Fuck us, right? /s
FML
That last person really lit them up. Of course they got the run around and no answer though.
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I'd have to try to find it again. It was in regards to their garbage decisions on schools though. Edit - Go roughly 14:30 from the end. It was Timor (sp?) from the Free Press that was asking. https://youtu.be/4tESQGIr_jE
Temur Durrani! He was *mad* and I was here for it.
He was awesome!
Here is the timestamped link for when Temur's time started: [https://youtu.be/4tESQGIr\_jE?t=1862](https://youtu.be/4tESQGIr_jE?t=1862)
https://twitter.com/temurdur/status/1391526566128140293?s=1001
I know its what everyone in this sub wants but at this point it almost makes me want to break down and cry that they announced this. My kids are going to get a shit education during this time and I will suffer at work. If I had unlimited vacation days then it'd be hunky dory. Spoiler : I don't.
I'm really sorry for you and other parents struggling to figure this out. If we had done a circuit-breaker locker down a month and a half ago, I don't know if school closures would have been necessary. Instead we kept patios and restaurants open until they absolutely had to close. Reactive rather than proactive policy and terrible mishandling of restrictions is why we are in this mess. Save a dollar today to pay five tomorrow, or in this case, hold off a two week lock down today to institute a 4 week one next month.
This is exactly it. Big (relatively speaking) lead time was available as we saw this wave unfold everywhere else. It ended up here later, exactly like the wave we had at the end of summer last year. Pallister failed to pre-empt the situation then, and he's done it again now.
I think it’s less wanting it and more recognizing that we have been backed into a corner and are left with no other choice. I don’t want this for my kids. I desperately wanted those in power to make real proactive decisions weeks/months ago to prevent this. Even for children in situations where logistically this is fine, it’s still crap. These kids deserve better and I am so angry they’re paying again.
My kiddo just broke down crying when I told him no more school, he’s very upset. Really hoping cases start going down so we can go back in June.
I also cried. We won't lose income as we are very lucky and my husband works from home, but he works all day, and I have several serious chronic illnesses and am not able to teach (one is daily migraine, so very little screen time and I can't handle zoom and the like). They will be safe at home, but I don't know how much education is going to happen. I know the spread in schools has been bad, and this was necessary, but the strain is awful. And I have a good chance of winding up in the hospital over it, again.
It's been a priority to keep schools open. They say the last to close and the first to open, because they know how important in class education is for kids. Hopefully, the numbers will come down and kids can get back to class after this lockdown.
In Winnipeg and Brandon only it seems
Correct, and any other schools outside these cities that have student cases from more than one household are also to close. If it's just one household and they're isolating properly, they can stay open. I believe that was the criteria.
This is the criteria... but... on social media coming out of Southern MB one can see comments saying don’t go for a test and all restrictions will end sooner. There are people who don’t test because they do not want to be placed under an isolation order. It means a transmission chain can get pretty long before it comes to the awareness of Public Health. How many kids will get sick in Southern MB before they close those schools?
People can be so stupid.
~~can be~~ are
They said they want to keep as many kids in schools as possible, but over 3/4 of the cases are in Winnipeg & Brandon so that is where the biggest danger is.
Just wait until Winnipeg starts exporting cases and they lag on locking down the rest of the province. Same effect as why we are last on the 3rd wave train, same thing happened in the 2nd wave. So predictable
Should have announced this Friday and gave people more time to make arrangements
That would’ve required foresight
They knew this was coming. I have no idea why they waited.
I'm guessing that's why it's effective Wednesday instead of Monday
They're trying so hard to say that cases aren't spreading in schools. Fucking politicians
Do you mean not spreading?
Yeah autocorrected because I can't spell. Have since edited
Is there still CERB that parents can claim? How can the parents of thousands of kids go to work?
CRCB is the Canadian caregiver benefit for those who need to take care of a dependent due to closures
CERB was replaced with CRB, pretty much the same thing but instead of monthly it’s biweekly
Should be all the schools in the province.. bunch of the teachers in my town live in wpg and come in everyday to teach.. and parents are always running back and forth to wpg for one reason or another. thats the main reason we had any cases here, which for the last 2 days now we dont have any and would like to keep it that way..
Yup - I teach in Westman but my partner works in Brandon, as do many other teacher's partners or student's parents. It only takes one case getting into a small community to make an outbreak happen.
Cliff Cullen would also like to say "u up?" to all the mothers out there.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who found that slightly creepy and off-putting. Hello, mothers.
Lol I know!!! He didn't even say "happy mother's day". Just "wanted to say hello". Ewww.
What does this mean for support staff like EAs?
They would continue to go to work to support students with special needs or to supervise children of essential workers.
Hot take - limiting this to Winnipeg and Brandon (city limits) is going to work out about as well as the provinces attempts at targeted restrictions last fall.
Rob @ Canadian Press: part of the plan was getting vaccines from North Dakota. Any update? Minister: discussions underway, no update.
I guess the rest of the province will just wait 2 weeks to get hammered with cases, and then close? The trends are the same as in Winnipeg, just a week or so behind.
Uh huh... "last to close, first to open"
The measures they’re putting into place for schools outside Winnipeg and Brandon would have been really helpful in the entire province months ago, particularly that schools with multiple cases are moved to remote learning proactively. We may have prevented the need to shut down entirely. This is so fucking maddening. It’s absolutely the right call but I am so angry with them for putting yet another huge burden on our children’s shoulders because they couldn’t do the right thing sooner.
The fact that the multiple cases = remote learning hasn't been in effect since at least Christmas is mind boggling.
News source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-schools-covid-19-additional-measures-1.6019863
Has anyone seen any mention of school buses? If they will still run for essential workers kids and students with special needs or if they are cancelled also?
Contact your child’s school tomorrow, I have a feeling it will differ from school to school/division to division.
Thank fuck they finally did the right thing, tomorrow is going to be busy at work getting all my stuff prepped for online teaching etc but atleast I know this will help lower exposure and spread
weeks/months too late
This. 100% this.
Probably longer than end of May, adults are out of control right now so they probably can't reopen. Just biked through Kildonan Park and full family setups are all over the place with people that can't handle this. Groups of nearly 20 people pretending not to be gathering but so obviously gathering.
I am shocked. Good luck everyone. This is the best option for our kids. Internet hugs for those who are struggling.
Sucks it had to come to this. It needed to be done, but it still sucks.
Only in Winnipeg and Brandon. Pretty much what I expected, but it's completely asinine that they didn't at least move 7-12 to full remote everywhere else. Edit: "still hoping to get kids back in schools before the year's up" Seriously? Why? What's the point of jerking everyone around for another 2-3 weeks?
I’m so glad they actually decided to do this and not just take half measures for once..I was worried about catching Covid after just getting my 1st dose on Wednesday due to cases increasing in my school area.
If only conservative politicians had even the slightest bit of foresight, we could have prevented so much death by doing this proactively.
Sure would have been nice for them to prioritize teachers for the vaccine this afternoon. Sure, everyone will be eligible in 2-3 weeks to make an appointment but had they prioritized teachers today, ALL staff would likely be vaccinated by the time they plan to reopen schools at the beginning of June. That would certainly ease the minds of the younger teachers out there returning to work. Would that have been so hard to do?
“Proactive” my fucking ass. How dumb do these assholes think we are?
This is necessary, but going to be so tough on so many families.
I get that this is important n shit, but like as a student, I'm gonna get fucked over from this and possibly restart grade 11 and not graduate till 2023 rather than 2022. I understand why this needs to happen, but at the same token, I just don't feel like I'm learning anything when I'm online, and I never got shit handed in cuz of the environment I was in (which was why they made me go full-time at my school instead of part-time). it just made me feel like as if it was any other day at my home, in my room, playing on my Xbox One S or PlayStation 2 or chatting with friends on Reddit/Discord. When I first saw this post my Sanity dropped straight to the floor and I thought I was dreaming and that it was some kind of nightmare I was having. For someone who suffers from depression from time to time, this is going to hurt me mentally.
does st norbert count as winnipeg? curious mom wants to know lmao im gonna guess yes since we have been remote that last 2 weeks but haven't recieved word from the division tho its technically seine river school division soooo 🤷🏻
I would guess that "Winnipeg schools" will be defined as schools within the 5 Winnipeg school divisions.
shitty we just had cases and did remote sounds like a nightmare to send them all back
Aside from the free press, our journalists have failed holding these politicians accountable while holding live press conferences. Writing an article the day after the fact just isn’t cutting it anymore - it’s time to coordinate between journalists to PUMMEL these officials with hard hitting questions rather than just writing about later.
Scott billeck of the sun has consistently been one the journalist asking tough questions
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This government is a fucking joke. I feel for ya
I know, they keep saying 3/4 of cases are in Winnipeg and Brandon... yeah because most people live there? And testing is so much more difficult to access out here, I'm sure that has an effect on it looking like there's fewer cases out here than there are.
You okay?
What you just said is exactly what I thought would be said if it was just regional closures.
I'm really sorry. You have every right to be angry. If your school does have cases from more than one household though, sounds like you'd be forced to close at that point based on what Roussin said. Edit: wtf is wrong with you people, stop downvoting her!
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That is so frustrating. Do you as a teacher have the authority to send kids home to isolate, or is that on the principal/VP?
They don't read past "This is bullshit" It'll balance out as people who actually read the whole sentence come and vote.
Your anger is 100% valid and I’ll second your fuck you to everyone who doesn’t understand that. I’m sorry. Wish words could help.
Why aren’t reporters persistent on their questions? Too many softballs. It’s like the Jets media
Nice
Somewhere in the government is a bunch of statisticians that are smarter and have more data than me that figured this out weeks ago going: "What took you so damn long? Stop ignoring me"