As British Columbia’s 60 school districts prepare to release their return-to-school plans today, one Port Coquitlam student is keeping a close watch — and she has questions.
Across the province, students are expected to return to class Sept. 10 in learning groups of no more than 60 students for elementary and middle schools and no more than 120 students for high schools.
But the gradual restart still has many scratching their head.
While School District 43’s back-to-school plan has been posted to its website, COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise and teachers have not let up in their call for smaller class sizes.
Charlotte Gibson has come up with a list of 30 questions she wants answered but so far hasn’t received direct answers from the Ministry of Education.
The Grade 11 Riverside student’s questions are similar to those raised by parents, teachers, education assistants and students across B.C. as she seeks specifics on issues on mask wearing, physical distancing in learning groups, the number of custodians available for cleaning touch points, physical barriers and what to do if someone in a learning group tests positive with COVID-19.
Among her queries are those related to how students will continue their schooling if they have to self-isolate, protections for siblings in different learning groups, how students will wash their hands if there are so few sinks and whether masks should be worn in the classroom.
“I’m really hoping I’ll hear back from the Ministry of Education,” Gibson told the Tri-City News, noting that she has spent the past several months taking precautions to protect herself from the virus.
In one of her more pointed questions, Gibsons asks if the ministry is "trying to create herd immunity by using young people as test subjects."
Teachers, meanwhile, have their own questions.
Ken Christensen, Coquitlam Teachers Association president, meanwhile, backs the BC Teachers’ Federation call for smaller classes and a viable remote learning option.
“We really need to reduce class sizes further to increase the capacity to socially distance,” Christen stated in a email.
Meanwhile, parents are being directed to their schools for specific answers to their questions but a letter on the SD43 website outlines plans for how students will return to school, how schools will be organized and mask, cleaning and sanitizing protocols.
It states, for example, that learning groups for elementary and middle schools will be a single class plus staff and that the secondary school year will be broken into quarters instead of semesters to reduce class size.
And while Education Minister Rob Fleming is expected to provide more information Wednesday afternoon on what schools will look like in small, medium and large districts in different parts of the province, there will likely be many more questions than answers for specific concerns.
