The Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation is calling for all Saskatoon area schools to move to Level 4 of the Safe School Plan which would mean all students start learning remotely on Monday and continue online until it is deemed safe to return to in-person learning.

STF President Patrick Maze describes the situation in Saskatoon as perilous and says there are numerous outbreaks in Saskatoon and area schools. He suggests a move to remote learning is one measure to take to help protect people’s lives.

The Saskatoon Public Schools announced Thursday that students at Nutana Collegiate are moving to Level 4 of the Safe Schools Plan and all Nutana students move to remote learning on Friday.

The STF says it has crunched the numbers and in the first three weeks of April variants of concern in Saskatoon have increased 925 per cent from 53 to 543 and total active cases have increased by 128 per cent. The STF also points out that Saskatoon has 543 cases of variants of concern. Regina had 434 when its school divisions announced a move to remote learning.