Parents, school staff hold rally in Surrey to call for stricter COVID-19 measures

Surrey, B.C. -

Parents and school staff in Surrey are calling on the B.C. government to rethink its back to school plan.

Nearly 100 people gathered at Holland Park Saturday to voice their concerns about the plan that health officials revealed earlier this week. 

Rani Senghera is the president of the Cambridge Elementary School Parents Advisory Council. She says she’s heard from many parents who are considering holding their kids out if further measures aren’t taken.

"That communication of saying, 'It's alright, kids need to go to school, they're safer in school,' we understand school is very important, but most parents aren't feeling their kids are safer at school,” said Senghera.

The new plan includes a mask mandate for students in Grades 4 and up, as well as for all staff. Surrey Teachers Association president Matt Westphal says the association would like to see everyone masked up.

“The biggest thing we want to see is a mask mandate for all students, for Kindergarten through Grade 3, not like it currently is from Grade 4 to Grade 12.”

Unlike last year, there be no remote learning programs in place.

That has forced Jaclyn Ferreira to pull her daughter Charlotte out of school. The soon-to-be sixth-grader suffers from a severe lung condition.

"Basically, our children are being penalized for being at risk, and that's unjust,” Ferreira said.

Vaccination against COVID-19 won’t be required for staff or eligible students.

The BC Teachers Federation has said it “would not oppose” mandatory vaccines for educators.

Last year, several Surrey schools were forced to temporarily close due to COVID-19 outbreaks. 

When the province announced its initial back-to-school plan in June, it was expected there would be a return to "near normal" in the fall. However, the province has recorded a steady increase in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, driven by the highly infectious Delta variant.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Alyse Kotyk