Reasons to Cancel Placement for March 8th, 2021:

(Created and Edited by George Brown College ECE Students)

• We believe it to be unfair that early childhood education students are being told to attend placement despite not being allowed to attend school due to the pandemic. 
• We believe it is unjust to be expected to go to the placement and interact with young children during a pandemic. Resulting in potentially putting ourselves, the children, family members and staff at risk.
• We would like to know why all of the professors are teaching at home because of covid and we are expected to go to placement during a pandemic? 
• We believe that, if anyone you live with is at high risk there is no way that we will be able to go, as we are not putting our family at risk for seven weeks. If we choose not to go, we will have to pay additional fees to retake the placement at a different time.
• We believe that the vaccines are limited for everyone, especially students
• We believe that since we have two months to complete our paperwork and pay to get an appointment with Concise, it seems disorganized. What if there aren't many appointments? Would it be through email? 
• We believe that this is gambling with our health.
• We are uncomfortable with this decision. 
• We believe that it is a risk to our safety if we are expected to take the vaccine when it comes out. 
• We want to know why weren't students given a chance to voice their concerns about whether the placement is a safe option?
• We want to know that if after getting the flu shot we get sick, does that mean we can contract COVID-19?
• We want to know if there will be a system put in place when a student gets COVID-19? 
• One of our students believes they are already at risk because, “I have kids in my house, my mother works at a daycare, I work in a mall and come in contact with people who don’t know how to wear their masks properly every day”.
• 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.
• We believe that since a lot of people do not have the ability to work, they will be unable to afford metro passes, pay for the police check, pay for the concise appointment, or transportation to get to and from placement. 
• We believe that since some of us are already living with health conditions or have had previous health conditions, this is a real risk to put us out there in the middle of a pandemic
• Since we receive emails almost every week from GBC saying a student has contracted covid and was on campus, we believe this puts us at a huge risk. They’re already at risk because they’re at school so why put your students out there with children that might already be at risk because their parents may work in the medical field or work a job that requires them to come in contact with people every day?
• Many students don't live in the city of Toronto and have been doing their schooling from home. I live two and a half hours away from Toronto and it will not be easy for me to get accommodations for only one month. What do you expect them to do? These people will have to move to an area that is unsafe and it will have the potential to cause unnecessary mental and physical stress. 
• We believe that many students will not be able to rectify their CPR courses as they are not available during this time.
• The police stations are currently closed for processing police reference checks. Resulting in students having to pay extra fees to receive their reference check.
• We believe that since many students have children at home and it is unsafe to attend placement and put their loved ones at risk. 
• We believe that we should be compensated for the inconvenience and risk of everyone’s safety involved.
• We believe that we would be considered high risk for this, with the number of people we would be around not just kids but adults as well, how will we know the parents will respect the rules of covid set in place now? 
• Expect us to put our health at risk for a degree, the risks clearly outweigh the benefits without a doubt.
• I am a cancer and stroke survivor,  and I am the primary caregiver for my elderly parents. We are all at high risk with compromised immune systems. I would like to finish this degree safely, would there be options for people in situations similar to my own to complete placements remotely?
• 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? 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. 
• How will GBC ensure the safety of students during placements? Health regulations? How will GBC make sure that everything is safe for when students do attend placements? Just because surfaces will be disinfected does not mean the risk factor will be eliminated. How often will covid testing occur?