Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky is urging the Ford government to release a plan to get students safely back in the classroom.
Speaking Wednesday, Gretzky stated that parents, students and educators in Windsor continue to be left waiting without any clarity on what to expect in September.
The New Democrat was joined by several local education officials including Erin Roy, the local president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District 9.
Gretzky says people need answers from the Ministry of Education, now.
"A solid plan that's included conversations with the people that work within our schools, teachers and other education staff within the schools," she says. "The support staff that work with children with disabilities and what that's going to look like for those students should they not be able to return to school."
Gretzky says there needs to be money attached to a plan for post COVID-19 education.
"Step up with enough funding to ensure there's more than seven cents per child when you're talking about supporting them as far education workers within the system and making sure things are cleaned and sanitized and students can keep a safe distance," added Gretzky.
She says she isn't comfortable sending her own children back to school the way things are.
"This government without a solid plan with funding in place to ensure that my kids or anybody else's and their families and the staff within the building, without the funding and a plan in place to ensure that everybody's safe, I wouldn't send my kids back to school," says Gretzky.
OSSTF District 9 President, Erin Roy, says her membership is starting to get nervous.
"We don't know what our return will look like. We know that it's coming quickly," she says. "The boards need to decide on a model, but without clear direction from provincial government that's very difficult to do."
Roy says workers want to get back to work, but there still isn't enough information on how to do that safely.
"It's only 33 days before staff is expected to be at work, the clock is really ticking," she says. "There's a lack of information and action on exactly what it's going to look like so our members are really struggling with how to prepare."
Roy says there are some anxious teachers throughout Windsor and Essex County.
"Traditionally lots of people try to relax in July and then there brain starts to work on what September is going to look like in August, and what course they might be teaching, but right now we don't even know what the model will look like," added Roy.
The Ontario government is due to announce plans for reopening schools in September during a news conference Thursday afternoon.
The announcement comes just six weeks before back-to-school season and a week before the province's 72 school boards were initially asked to outline their plans for the academic year.
The province had previously asked school boards to prepare for three scenarios come September: regular in-class instruction with physical-distancing measures in place, full-time remote learning, and a hybrid model blending both approaches.