Kramberger: Parents should choose masks over student absences

The high number of student absences recently reported by the Lester B. Pearson School Board speaks volumes, but will it be enough to sway a vast majority of parents to send their kids to school with masks?

So far this fall, it appears only a small number of Pearson students are voluntarily wearing masks since the province removed its mandatory mask protocols during the second half of the last school year.

It will have to be up to parents to take the lead because it seems clear the provincial government is hesitant to reintroduce mandatory masks protocols. This is despite reports of overburdened emergency wards, including at Montreal’s pediatric hospitals, significantly due to a rising number of respiratory cases resulting from COVID-19, flu or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Pearson reported 24,913 global absences at its elementary schools in November, an increase of 86 per cent from the same month last year, and more than double what was reported in November 2020 and November 2019.

At the high school level, the total days lost to absences in November was 18,940, an increase of 76 per cent from the same month last year. In further comparison, there were 8,514 absences in November 2020 and 11,264 during the same month in 2019.

It should be noted that the board did not identify the exact cause of each absence, “but clearly the numbers were substantially higher this November compared to the three previous years, so we must remain vigilant,” Pearson spokesperson Darren Becker told the Montreal Gazette.

While health authorities, including Health Minister Christian Dubé, recently encouraged citizens to wear masks in public spaces, such as malls and on public transit, the province is reluctant to mandate wearing masks in public spaces.

The Pearson board, in a notice sent to parents last Friday, stated that a recommendation by Quebec public health to wear masks in public places did not apply to schools or daycares.

Although Pearson continues to offer masks to students, it’s an optional choice to wear one.

However, it would be wise for parents to consider the English school board’s advice to have their children wear masks at school, taking into consideration the current high rates of illness and absences.

“It is designed to stem the further spread of the viruses currently circulating. We also wish to point out that high rates of absence impact student learning and the delivery of services available to them,” Pearson’s administration noted.

­Mask wearing in classrooms when it was mandatory seemed to work relatively smoothly, as students adapted.

If more and more students come to class with a mask over the next month, it could snowball into preventing the spread of respiratory illnesses and cut down the high number of absences. But I won’t hold my breath waiting for it to happen. It seems too many West Islanders have forsaken masks since mandatory measures were dropped months ago.

Albert Kramberger is editor of the Montreal Gazette’s West Island/Off-Island section.

akramberger@postmedia.com

1. Pearson school board releases latest CO2 readings

2. Expect 'difficult' December with COVID-19 and flu on the rise, Boileau says