The Yukon Party is calling on the Liberals to go back and properly consult the people who will be affected by their “unilateral” changes to the coming school year.

Last Thursday afternoon, Education Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee announced that In Whitehorse, kindergarten to Grade 9 students will return to full-time instruction during the week of Aug. 18.

The schools were closed in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with students expected to take part in online education where possible.

Next month, most Yukon students will return to their regular classrooms, full-time.

In rural schools, all students from kindergarten to Grade 12 will return to schools with a normal schedule. 

In Whitehorse, kindergarten to Grade 9 students will also return to full-time instruction.

Grades 10-12 students in Whitehorse will attend half-day instruction, with the other half-day taking place remotely.

Grade 8 classes in Whitehorse will be relocated to enable safe spacing. Classes from F.H. Collins Secondary will be moved to the Wood Street Centre, affecting 135 students.

Wood Street Centre programs will be moved to Porter Creek Secondary.

“My recommendation would be to have every parent pull their kid from the program, because it’s not going to fly,” Jeff Nordlund, founder of the Music, Art and Drama (MAD) theatre program taught at the centre, told the Star Monday.

“Moving the Grade 8 classes from F.H. Collins to the Wood Street Centre will minimize the disruption for these 135 students,” McPhee said in an email that day.

The Yukon Party said Tuesday the Liberals made these decisions in isolation and without any consultation or regard for the opinions of parents, students, nor teachers.

“It is astounding that the Liberals have left out a key partner in education during their planning process – the parents,” said Currie Dixon, who became the Yukon Party’s leader in May.

“The Liberals were elected on the promise of Yukoners being heard, and yet not only is no one listening, the government hasn’t even bothered to ask.”

Within hours of the Liberals’ decisions announced last Thursday, the Yukon Party said, it was flooded with angry emails, questions, and concerns from parents, teachers, and students.

One Facebook group that was created to protest the announcement had more than 100 members within hours, the official Opposition said.

“Parents, teachers, and students are all being left out of what could be the most critical decisions around our children’s education that will ever be made,” added Dixon.

“What makes this worse is that the Liberals have undemocratically refused to bring back the legislature and allow any oversight or questioning of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Yukon Party is once again demanding that the Liberals recall the legislature so MLAs can provide oversight of the government’s response to COVID-19.

“If the legislature were allowed to sit, then elected representatives would be able to exercise their democratic rights of scrutinizing government decision-making,” said Dixon.

“It is clear that the Liberals need oversight, and if they had not shut down our democratic institutions, then we would have been able to avoid a situation where hundreds of parents and families are cut out of crucial decision-making processes.”

“Our goal is to return as many students as possible to class in the Yukon, in their schools, while following all health and safety guidelines,” McPhee said at her news conference last Thursday.

School bus services will also be adapted, with fewer students riding each bus. Families who are able to walk, bike or drive to school are encouraged to do so.

The legislature isn’t scheduled to sit again until Oct. 1 – almost seven months after MLAs last gathered.