The President of the Greater Essex Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario believes the provincial government has put school board administrators and trustees in a hard spot.
Mario Spagnoulo says he tuned into Tuesday night's public school board meeting and was impressed with the local concerns from trustees.
He says trustees asked a number of questions but many went unanswered because the local board needs more information from the Ministry of Education.
Spagnoulo says parents have been put in a tough position.
"We're asking parents to make decisions about sending their kids to school, the day after Labour Day and they have to make that decision this week and a little bit of next week and the issue is, they don't have any of their questions answered the pertinent ones for example the outbreak plan," says Spagnoulo.
He says his members are also concerned.
"They're going to be entrusted and we take this very seriously as teachers with the care of people's children and what we're worried about is, what happens if under my care a child comes in with COVID and spreads it into my classroom," says Spagnoulo. "That's something that we're going to have to sleep with at night knowing that, that's our responsibility."
As heard on AM800 news, the local public board discussed its back to school plan with trustees Tuesday night.
Trustees raised plenty of concerns such as class sizes and the potential for COVID-19 outbreaks in the schools.
Trustees decided to hold off making a decision about the back to school plan until the Ministry of Education and local health unit finalizes its outbreak policy.