Students in the Early Childhood Education program (ECE) at George Brown College (GBC) are petitioning to cancel work placements scheduled for March 2021, citing health and safety concerns regarding COVID-19.

In a list of reasons for the petition, ECE students say they believe it is unfair that they are being told to attend placements, despite not being allowed to attend school under the current circumstances. They say it is “unjust to be expected to go to the placement and interact with young children during a pandemic”.

The petition has 201 signatures as of December 17.

“I have to move from my home to school for a month,” said Shelby Stephenson.

“We believe that it is unfair to put students out there in the middle of a pandemic while teachers work from home because of the pandemic,” another student said in the list of reasons.

The petition also features a series of questions about how the college will be able to ensure health regulations, as well as how frequently COVID-19 tests will occur to ensure student safety.

“We believe that the decision the school has made, assumed all the students were completely healthy because otherwise why would they say we’re doing a placement?” says one petitioner anonymously.

“They didn’t consider people’s living situations, jobs, and health. Even if that was taken into consideration, it wasn’t voiced and the statement that was put out didn’t seem calculated.”

Students also say they believe they should be compensated for the “inconvenience and risk of everyone’s safety”. Faculty at the ECE program, however, feel it is safe to attend the placements and that students should postpone completion if it would make them feel safer.

“I recognize, for some students, they may be living with [people who are] vulnerable, or they may have a number of reasons why, at this point in time, they don’t feel ready to go to placement in March,” said Patricia Chorney Rubin, director of community services and early childhood at GBC. “And that’s okay. We’ve made arrangements for students all the way through to defer their placements and complete them at a normal time.”

While some students have proposed the option of fulfilling online academic requirements in lieu of the co-op placement, Chorney Rubin says placements are a crucial component of the program.

“There’s only so much learning how to swim you can do theoretically. Eventually, you need to get in the pool in order to get a certificate to say you’re a lifeguard.”