B.C.’s children will be back in school today on a voluntary basis in an attempt to resume in class learning before the school year ends.
Premier John Horgan says health officials would not have approved the month long plan if they felt that people would have been at risk. The province is leaving it up to families to decide if they their kids to return to school or continue learning from home.
“We’re comfortable with the plan that Minister Rob Fleming has put in place and that plan was developed by CUPE, the BC Teacher’s Federation, Vice Principals and Principals associations, trustees, and local communities as well as parents advisory councils,” he said.
“So all of the stakeholders in the K to 12 system, and they are numerous, and they often times are on different pages, they have all come together to put in place a plan that we believe will work for the month of June to better prepare us for the return to regular school in September.”
Across SD73, it means in-class learning for children of essential service workers, students with disabilities, and priority learners who require additional support will continue five days a week as it has over the past two months.
Kids in kindergarten to Grade five will be in class two days a week with classrooms at a maximum 50 per cent of capacity, while Grades six to 12 will be in class once a week, with classrooms at no more than 20 per cent of capacity. Recess, lunches and pick-up and drop-off times will be staggered at all schools.
SD73 also says there will be dedicated remote and online learning opportunities for all students each Monday.
“What will happen on Monday will happen on Monday, and I’m sure that on Wednesday you’ll have questions for me, but I am very comfortable that all of the players in the system are on the same page,” Horgan added.
“That’s fantastic news for our system, fantastic news for our kids.”
As part of the reopening, SD73 is hiring 17 new custodians at a cost of about $1-million to help meet new COVID-19 cleaning standards. Board Chair Kathleen Karpuk also told NL News that they expect to have its international student program to go ahead in the fall.
Most of the 550,000 public school students in B.C. have been forced to transition to online learning since mid-March when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing.
As well, the city of Kamloops says playgrounds at city parks and public schools are reopening today.