Coronavirus: Should masks be mandatory Alberta schools? Gray said his late wife was a teacher for 30 years at a junior high school.“Every year, she would come home with a new cold, flu and pneumonia,” he explained. “There’s no way they’re going to keep kids safe inside of schools.”Co-organizer Daphne Simkin has two children in high school, both with health issues.“I 100 per cent back the idea of children going back to school, but only in a safe environment,” she said.