EDMONTON, AB – Delaying a return to in-person learning will not be on the agenda of Alberta’s COVID Cabinet Committee meeting.
That, according to Premier Jason Kenney who says the government is determined to ensure the re-entry of K to 12 schools on Monday, January 10th.
That cabinet committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday (Jan. 5)
The Premier admits there will be challenges, but says it’s critically important for kids to return to classrooms.
“There will be teachers and staff in isolation because of the widespread nature of this variant,” said Kenney at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. “I think there’s been a significant change in the consensus across, certainly North America. Many jurisdictions that had suspended school for in-class instruction for much of the past twenty months, realized in retrospect, that it was a mistake.”
Kenney says the province is providing medical grade masks for staff and students and distributing rapid test kits to schools to help in the midst of the rise in Omicron cases.
Last week the province announced kids would not be going back to school as planned this week and Winter Break was being extended in order to give school officials across the province a chance to plan.
The Premier also added the risk to children in school is far lower than outside the school environment.