Build it and they will come

Well, except in Education, perhaps.

Like most people, I was really curious to see how the invitation to return to school would go over in Quebec on Monday.

• Retour à l’école : les Québécois sont divisé
• Quebec should not be returning to school
• Quebec schools reopen with emphasis on physical distancing, hygiene
• English students only trickle back, leaving Quebec school with class of one

Like making the call on a snow day, there has to be huge pressure on those making the decisions. Unlike making the call on a snow day where you can respond one day later with a “whoops”, making the wrong call at this time could be devastating. Unlike snow days, there is no weather forecast to let you know what the conditions will be tomorrow. We’ve never had to deal with a situation like we’re experiencing now. So, there is no well defined best practices.

There are all kinds of questions – the ones that I worry about were included in this post. I don’t think that they were necessarily deeply insightful but the combination of all of the issues speaks to the reality and graveness of the situation and the decision that needs to be made. We can rest assured that the rest of the country is watching and learning from what is happening in Quebec.

Like everyone, I’m taking in more news than normal these days. Often when there is no news to be had, they go and create some of their own. Like this morning, there was a report of a poll about people’s opinions about “opening up”. It’s mildly interesting and I hope has no effective on decisions made based on scientific basis. Both our Prime Minister and Premier seem committed to science.

On the other hand, there is an election on the horizon south of the border.

Some results are just plain predictable.

On Social Media, teachers have not been hesitant with their thoughts of the situation and with advice to those in Ontario who will be making the decision. None of what I have seen has been supportive or positive – for either Quebec or Ontario. While nobody is an expert, they do seem united in their thoughts.

I get it; everyone is scared. Nobody wants to put themselves in the position of harming yourself or harming the students in your charge or harming colleagues or harming family or harming those in the community that you might meet.

Nobody knows what the right answer is. There are lots of thoughts about what the wrong answers are.

I think we all know that, when it happens, it will not be business as usual. In fact, it may never be business as usual again in our lifetime. Certainly, people a lot smarter than me will make the ultimate decision. Then, the decision will be on parents and students to see if they’re ready to follow.

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