Students miffed gyms used for COVID-19 testing

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This article was published 20/10/2021 (1592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STUDENT athletes and their parents are irritated Manitoba’s largest school division has designated two high school gymnasiums as supervised rapid testing sites for unvaccinated employees on weeknights.

Starting this week, hundreds of employees in the Winnipeg School Division who have not provided their supervisor with proof of full immunization against COVID-19 are required to undergo frequent testing for the virus.

In order to report to work, these teachers, educational assistants and other staff members must submit a negative result from a rapid test taken within 48 hours of their shift. One of every full-time employee’s three weekly tests must be supervised at either Grant Park or Tec Voc high school.

Radean Carter, a senior information officer at WSD, said the division “put a lot of care and thought” into choosing the clinic sites.

Carter said the gyms were chosen because they are large and can be accessed without entering the school building. Plus, they are available for use on weeknights and Saturdays without affecting school community members.

However, a petition created by a student athlete at Grant Park suggests otherwise. To date, more than 400 people have signed the document and submitted their suggestions on alternative sites: among them, parking lots and elementary schools.

“For a while, we didn’t have any competitive sports. We were only allowed to do competition again starting Sept. 21, so it’s really frustrating that we’d have our gym taken again not long after,” said the Grade 12 student, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity.

The 17-year-old, who plays basketball, said she and her peers are annoyed they were not consulted and only informed by their school late last week that their senior gym would be used for testing on weekdays, between 4:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

In a letter dated Oct. 14, principal Jamie Hutchison informed parents about the clinics, which he indicated would be set up and taken down daily, followed by full cleaning and fogging.

Regular phys-ed classes and team practices are being accommodated during the day so students are not affected, per the notice — yet students have experienced disruptions.

“The teachers decided not to get vaccinated so the teachers need to figure out how to get tested — and not burden our kids. Our kids have already waited long enough to do their sports and have normal school,” said Kari Zylstra, a mother of a teenager at Grant Park who plays football and basketball.

Zylstra said her son can no longer use the weight room or change room attached to the senior gym after school and some athletes are being told their home games will have to be held at nearby schools with regulation-size courts.

Being a nurse who worked in a COVID-19 ward and contracted a serious case of the virus last fall, she is also concerned about the presence of unvaccinated staff in buildings frequented by students.

The risk of exposure may be minute, but Zylstra said it is cause for concern. She wants to know why WSD cannot supervise tests via Zoom or set up drive-in sites.

Carter said the division anticipates the number of employees required to undergo testing will decrease in the coming weeks and that alongside a drop in demand, both Grant Park and Tec Voc will soon be able to host home games at least once or twice per week in the evenings.

As of Monday, approximately 350 full-time staff in the division — eight per cent of all full-time and permanent employees — had yet to show their immunization record. Hundreds of people on substitute lists are also subject to the new testing policy.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie