Schools are safe! Parents rally to get kids back in class

• By Tamara Ugolini

PETITION: Let Our Kids Go Back To Class

Ontario students who suffered from the devastating effects of school closures due to government-mandated COVID restrictions will be locked out of their classrooms again as the education workers' union announces a strike. If you agree that kids must remain in the classroom, sign this petition.

9,692 signatures
Goal: 12,000 Signatures

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On Sunday, January 9, a group of concerned families and educators gathered in downtown Toronto at Queen’s Park, Ontario's legislature to advocate against Premier Doug Ford's indiscriminate province-wide school closures.

Organized by the Ontario Families Coalition, Concerned Parents, Professionals and Advocates, it was a brief protest lasting just one hour. Approximately 75 attendees gathered despite frigid temperatures and harsh winds to listen to speeches by those directly affected by school closures. Many of the sentiments shared by attendees echoed those of my report from January 5 in terms of school closures doing more harm than good.

At Rebel News, I launched a campaign to get students Back To Class a mere two days after Ford announced that his government needed “just another two weeks” to “blunt” the spread of omicron, an allegedly less lethal, but more virulent, COVID-19 variant.

At BackToClass.ca, you can sign a petition that will be delivered to Ontario's minister of education, Stephen Lecce, and Premier Ford.

You can also simultaneously send a form letter to both of these elected officials expressing your disagreement with sweeping school closures that are not evidence-based or data-driven.

While the current closures are specific to Ontario, we are ready to pivot the campaign to include other provinces if warranted.

It appears that parents, educators and students alike are fed up with rolling restrictions. They want children back in class and are finally standing up for the voiceless children saying, “enough is enough!”