As students, families and teachers prepare for the 2022-2023 school year, many are expressing concern over another year of uncertainty. The Liberal Party is calling on the Higgs Government to release its plans ensuring the well-being of both students and teachers.

“After two years of disrupted learning, many students will need help to catch-up. The past few years have been difficult on everyone, and we owe it to our students to support them in their academic efforts” says Susan Holt, Leader of the New Brunswick. “Has Government prepared a plan to support students and teachers in their effort to catch-up? We have been hearing serious concerns from parents who fear the academic repercussions as a result of the challenges they have faced over the last two years.”

With only a few days until the beginning of the school year, many parents are concerned with the lack of communications and lack of COVID-19 measures or protocols should there be virus outbreaks in the school system.

“COVID-19 is still present and there must be a plan to act quickly and effectively should there be a large outbreak of the virus. We ask that the Department of Education and Public Health release an outbreak plan and properly communicate it with the parents to relieve some of the stress related to uncertainty” says Susan Holt. “A way to make the schools safer for everyone is to increase accessibility to rapid tests and make boosters available, preferably in schools, for students ages 5 to 11 so that families can take measures to best protect themselves.”

It’s important the well-being of everyone learning and working in schools is taken seriously as the system attempts to return to normal. “There is a serious risk of staffing shortages due to COVID19 infections. What protocols has government taken to protect the health of teachers and other school staff? While government has made some investments into improving air quality installing HEPA filters in some classrooms, there has been little data communicated to clearly show the impact these filters are having on the classrooms air quality. We ask that government share these results and reassure the population that steps are being taken to keep everyone in schools as safe as possible” says the Liberal Leader.