春假、EQAO取不取消？学年延不延长？莱切解答

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昨日，即2月5日，教育厅长莱切出席少数族裔媒体记者会，就返校问题作进一步说明。

有人问春假（March Break）是否会取消。对此，厅长表示：“我们将在下周给出答复。我会尽我所能，来阻止病毒传播，并打消家长和大家出国旅游的念头。现在可不是旅游的时候，因为我们有英国、南非、巴西等变种毒株在省内传播。关于春假的决定，我会在得到首席卫生官最终建议后，在下周公布出来。”

有人问学习能力测试（EQAO）会不会取消。对此，厅长表示：“现在，我们不再将语文考试（Ontario Literacy Test）成绩作为毕业要求，因为很多学生无法在这种环境下完成测验。另外，我还把最低义工小时数从40小时降到了20小时，因为很多孩子都在家里，没法完成要求。至于学习能力测验，我记得3年级和6年级学生已不被要求完成数学考试。至于那些9年级学生，等我们有更多信息再说。”

有人提到了教师人手短缺和班级人数的问题，对此厅长表示：“我总听到反对党和工会在那儿说，你要把中小学班级人数控制在最多15人。好吧，我在中学可做到了这点，大多伦多和汉密尔顿地区所有中学，班级人数不超15人。如果我们接受了他们的全部要求，那就意味着我们要多招3万5千名教师，但我们连3-4千人都招得困难。回到你的问题，正是因为我们安省教师人手如此短缺，我才不得不允许那些马上毕业的师范应届生来学校工作。他们至少会有教育学士学位。”

“我们现在缺席教师人数非常之多，教师人手极度短缺，我只能让那些应届生上岗。为什么缺人？因为有人需要请病假，也有人需要留在家中。有时候，我们必须关闭学校，不是因为疫情，而是因为没人干活。这是绝对不能接受的。那为此我又做了什么？我们已经同意教育局招募师范应届生。顺带一提，这些毕业生只会是临时教师，而不是长期工。至少，这些教育者受过培训，还了解课程内容，总比因为学校没人而不得不全校关门好。”

有人问省府会否延长学年，对此厅长表示：“目前，我们没有这个打算。我们要想这么做，还得看教师工会答不答应，因为集体合同里好像写着只能有194工作日。理论上，他们也不愿意我们调整春假。我不是说，我要取消春假，然后让他们多工作5-7天，这样他们肯定会要求我给他们多付薪水。那就是为了这一周，我们得多付他们10亿元，所以我也不会这么做。在这种情况下，你能做的就是叫他们到六月份再放假。比如从现在一直工作到6月份，提前到6月21号放假，而不是以前的6月28日。”

“我对所有选项保持开放态度。我现在考虑的是强化我们的暑期学习项目。如果学生觉得自己这门课成绩不好，或没学到什么，可以重新学一遍。同时，我们还要推出预习学分（reach ahead credit），假如你是9年级学生，你可以暑假上10年级的课。对于家长来说，这是免费的。”

英语原文

Speaking at an ethnic media roundtable yesterday, Minister Lecce made further explanation on the latest school reopening decision.

When asked about the potential cancellation of March Break, the Minister said: “We would be able to provide a decision in next week. I would do whatever I have to do to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and I want to discourage parents and people from leaving the country. It is not the time to be travelling. We have new variants, the South African, the UK, the Brazilian variants in our country……The decision of March Break, I would be making in next week or so once I get the final advice back from the CMOH, but we would be sure to communicate it.”

When asked about the potential cancellation of EQAO, the Minister said: “I already waived the Ontario literacy test as a requirement for graduation, cause some kids just cannot take it in this environment. I reduced the minimum volunteer hours from 40 to 20, because many kids are home, it is hard to volunteer….As I recall on EQAO, grade 3 and 6 math, the test has been waived, and any further information on grade 9 would be alerted to. ”

When asked about the teacher shortage and class size, the Minister said: “As I hear from the oppositions and from the unions: you should impose 15 person class size. Okay, in high school I did that….For all schools in the GTHA, high schools are capped at 15. If we accepted the talking point of 15 person classroom, that means 35,000 new teachers. We can hardly find 3-4000 teachers. To your question, it is such a problem of the lack of teachers in Ontario, that I am forced as a consequence to allow 2nd students finishing their final year or month to become a teacher, they are Bachelors of Education. I am allowing them in our schools because we have such a massive shortage of teachers and such a high level of staff absenteeism. This is because of sick-leave or people staying home…..We have to close schools sometimes not because of COVID-19, but because of our people. That is absolutely unacceptable. So what have I done? I am allowing some the 2nd candidates to be recruited in school boards to fill those gaps….By the way, these are just supply teachers, not long-term. At least you would have an educator who gone through the training and understands the curriculum, versus sending the school home because we don’t enough people to work with.”

When asked the potential extension of the school year, the Minister said: “At this point. There is no intention to extend the school year. That would require the teacher unions to agree, cause there are collective agreements, 194 days in the agreement. Technically on March Break, they don’t even want us to, I am not saying eliminate March Break, and add another 7 or 5 working days to their schedule, cause they would argue I have to pay them. That would cost $1B to pay them for that week, which I would not do. What you could do under that scenario is that you take that week off in June. Keep the kids going now till June and end it on June 21st, instead of June 28th. ……I would be open to all options…What I am planning to do is beefing up summer learning programs….If they did not do well on the course, or they feel they did not learn anything, they can redo the course. We are going to do reach ahead credit, so if you are in grade 9, and you want to do grade 10 course in summer, we are allowing that, free to parents. ”