Liberal leader Kevin Vickers makes a campaign stop in Saint John on Sept. 2, 2020. (Photo: Brad Perry)
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers used a press conference Saturday to criticize the Progressive Conservative government’s return to school plan.
This fall’s return to school has been exceedingly complicated by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and has led to changes in classroom sizes, school attendance schedules, bus routes, and a requirement for high school students to bring laptops.
Specifically, Vickers challenged the way the return to school plan had been communicated to New Brunswickers.
“Parents are stressed, and a lot of teachers that I’ve met have been stressed because they’re just not getting the information they need,” he said.
Vickers also criticized the laptop requirement, which is subsidized by up to $600 by the province, would disproportionately impact low-income families.
“(Higgs) imposed a serious financial burden on families, many of whom have seen their income significantly reduced as a result of the pandemic,” said Vickers. “They’re struggling to put food on the table, and I just don’t think it’s right to burden them with extra cost.”
Students are permitted to use a previously-owned device, and the subsidy plan works on a sliding scale depending on household income.
The Liberal leader told reporters if elected his party would take a long-term look at the state of all levels of education in the province, including a ten-year human resource plan in the first year of their mandate.
“(The plan would) allow for better planning for government, post-secondary institutions, the K-12 school system and early educators,” Vickers claimed.
