Your stories
Back to normal has been anything but.
School closures, constant illness, cancelled buses, staff shortages, absent teachers, and a lack of transparency have forced families to make impossible choices to sacrifice opportunity, support, or money because schools have not been made safe enough to attend.
Below are stories from real families that show the reality of what has happened to Ontario's schools.
MM's Story
Schools are not safe for all kids, my kid especially. As a result, we have been forced into isolation while also needing to rely on social services. This could have been avoided had the government actually made schools safe.
Nobody should have to school between their child’s health and keeping a roof over their heads.
K's Story
The government has not stepped in to make any improvements to schools; in fact – they did the very opposite. In our particular school, we did not see any evidence of additional air purifiers being provided or used despite hearing constant chatter about the alleged ‘improved ventilation'.
This is absolute hell, and no one seems to care. There’s nothing my family can do to keep ourselves safe anymore, except remove ourselves from society as much as possible.
Sam's story
Not only were we denied [medical] accommodations, the vice-principal also threatened to expel her if she missed 15 consecutive days of school.
There are many days when there is such a significant amount of illness in the classroom that I will bring her home from school. This is causing her to miss significant learning opportunities.
JQ's Story
My mother is a diabetic and my father has health issues; we had to make the decision to pull my child from school because my support network (my mom and dad) are vulnerable, and a Covid infection could do serious harm to them.
It’s not fair for parents to be put in the position of having to decide between their child’s health (And the health of their immediate family, who the child could also infect with an illness) and the benefits of in-person education. It’s unacceptable.
KJ's Story
My child’s initial Covid infection wasn’t “that bad,” but since then, he’s been more susceptible to every illness, and he gets sicker each and every time. His body needs to heal, but it can’t keep up to the amount of virus out there.
I send my kid to school every day wondering if this is the day I will regret; the day where he gets COVID again and doesn’t recover.