A 'no-win situation' as Manitoba weighs return to school, parents say

A parent of three says Manitoba is facing a "no-win situation" as it contemplates a return to in-person learning for students.

The province could reopen schools for everyone while COVID-19 is surging like never before, triggered by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, or it could order a return to some semblance of virtual learning, which is a burden on some parents and families. 

"I am very concerned about the [COVID] spread that obviously is happening … so to send them back, as is, seems dangerous," Patricia Petti said.

"But having them home also is bad for them, and I totally agree when people say that they're concerned about mental health and kids not going to school."

That choice — to return Kindergarten to Grade 12 students to in-person learning, or not — is being left to Manitoba health officials and the government this week.

The province already delayed the return to school after the winter break by a few days, until Jan. 10, to assess the impact of the Omicron variant. So far, the variant's made its presence known: daily COVID case counts are breaking records regularly, and those numbers are an undercount since testing capacity is strained.

In recent days, the teachers' union and board of Winnipeg's largest school division have publicly called for moving almost all students to remote learning.

And today, Ontario announced two weeks, maybe longer, of virtual learning in early January.

Petti understands the need to balance concerns about COVID and kids' well-being.

"I think they should be in school, but I think they should be safe. I think that the teachers there should be safe. Everyone should be safe," she said. "It shouldn't be a question of which one's more important, they're both important."

Specifically, she wants a return to last May when some schools were closed for all students, except the children of critical services workers, high-risk students and some students with disabilities. She's the mother of a child with autism who would be eligible for in-person learning.

Another parent, Vanessa Eidse, would like a short period of homeschooling.

It could provide some extra time for the province to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save the health-care system from further being overrun, she said.

"We do know that this [COVID variant] spreads so much more quickly than it has before. And we're in wintertime in Winnipeg. Not outside, we're inside," she said.