A hefty chunk of federal dollars could help fine tune B.C.’s back-to-school plan and give parents, teachers and students more confidence returning to the classroom, says the Coquitlam Teachers’ Federation.
Money could come out of B.C.’s $242 million allotment of federal cash to create a robust remote learning plan for immunocompromised students and staff and put fewer students in classes to make schools safer, said CTA president Ken Christensen.
SD43’s back to school plan sees learning cohorts of up to 35 students and staff, with secondary students doing a blend of online and face-to-face classes.
But Christensen fears those numbers are not small enough to keep younger students away from each other, especially those who might not have the maturity or understanding to keep from touching one another.
At the secondary level, he’s concerned there will still be lot of people moving around despite smaller learning groups and the mix of at-home learning to reduce numbers in school buildings.
“They are making the best of what limited resources they have, they need more resources and there needs to be development of this effective online remote learning,” Christensen said.
BLENDED MODEL
A blended model which mixes face-to-face and online learning will be in place for secondary students in September. Other measures include staggered pick-up and drop-off times, and semesters will be broken into quarters to keep learning groups small. But that’s not the same as a true remote learning model, Christensen said.
He sees a plan whereby students from elementary through secondary do remote learning if their parents so choose, while still attached to their local school. The classes would be taught by teachers who are immunocompromised or live with people who are. Both educators and students would engage with the classes from their own homes.
That kind of learning program was not promised by Education Minister Rob Fleming during a livestream press conference Wednesday, Aug. 26, but he did say school districts — including SD43 — are being asked to survey parents about what their education needs would be in the fall.
“All districts will have funding security and funding flexibility to continue to serve their communities,” Fleming said.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS
Some details were revealed Wednesday by Superintendent Patricia Gartland in a letter posted to the district website. Parents will hear more specifics around the fall return-to-school plans from individual schools in the near future, noted the superintendent in her letter.
Meanwhile, here’s how the province expects schools to create safe environments:
• At home, prior to leaving for school, students should undergo a daily health check with a responsible adult. If a student feels unwell or exhibits any symptoms such as coughing, sneezing or fever, that child should not attend school. Staff will also stay home if sick.
• Learning groups will be allowed to mingle without two metres of physical distancing but students and staff can’t can’t touch one another, there will be staggered breaks, separate entrances and exits and other rules to keep groups apart.
• People mixing between learning groups will have to physically distance and should wear masks. Substitute teachers filling in short-term will wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and socially distance from the class they are teaching as they are not considered part of the students’ learning group.
• There will be heightened cleaning, installed hand-washing stations and hand-sanitizer will be provided.
• Two masks will be provided for each student. Staff will also be provided with masks and face shields as necessary.
• If a student presents symptoms at school they will be immediately fitted with a mask and isolated at school, where a staff member kitted out in protective equipment will attend them until they can safely return home and self-isolate. Fraser Health would then follow up with testing and if the individual tests positive with COVID-19, public health officials would begin contact tracing.
NO CHANGE TO WINTER BREAK
Other details about SD43’s plan were provided to the Tri-City News, including information that teachers on call or other staff who move between classes will be expected to physical distance and wear PPE, some professional development days have been moved to ensure the semesters for high school students are the same length, and alternative programs such as Inquiry Hub and CABE will continue, but with health and safety protocols.
SD43 is one of the districts implementing staggered start times, break times and end times to help distance cohorts from one another.
However, there are no plans to shorten the winter break to accommodate the quarterly semester system, where students will do one class face-to-face and another in a blended model, and switch partway through.
Meanwhile, students in French Immersion and other programs of choice will have to wait awhile to find out how they may be accommodated if they have special health concerns. Fleming said “stakeholders” will be discussing the issue in the coming weeks.
SD43 states in its plan that parents with specific concerns should speak directly with their schools to have their issues addressed.
