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Dear Premier Ford,

We are the people who work in Ontario’s public schools. We care about the students of this province. We are dedicated to providing safe, caring, equitable and quality education for all of them.

We know our schools. We know our students. We know our jobs.

Because of this, we are extremely concerned about the safety and well-being of our students, their families, and ourselves given your announcements about re-entry in September.

You say your government is consulting with education workers, but it’s clear you’re not listening.

Your government’s mishandling of the childcare reopening adds to the distrust created when you decided to unilaterally increase class sizes, cut school budgets, and make e-learning mandatory -- all things that hurt students.

Because schools must be safe, because education must be equitable, and because re-opening the system will only work if we can trust it:

We urge you to create an independent advisory panel that will make binding recommendations on when and how school reopenings should happen. It must include the following:

- Public health experts who are leaders in the field of epidemiology as well as managing infectious diseases, with specific knowledge of reopening schools
- Parent and student representatives from Ontario public schools
- Experts in the field of equity in public education
- Representatives from all education unions and education worker job classes, including those with experience in adult day schools
- Workplace Health and Safety experts