While schools across B.C. reopened yesterday, students across the Kamloops-Thompson School District will begin going back to class today.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Superintendent Alison Sidow says they’re expecting anywhere from one third to half of the students to return in K-5 classes, which will be limited to 50 per cent of capacity.
“We had every teacher contact families to determine whether or not their child will be returning to school. Some schools are reporting upwards of 50 per cent which we are really pleased with,” she said. “In secondary, we’ll have to wait and see. There are small tutorial groups, so it won’t be more than 20 per cent of the students at any one time, so they will be much smaller numbers there.”
Sidow says kids have been out of school for far too long, adding its good have returning, even if its on a part-time basis.
“I don’t think we want to be figuring this out in September,” she added. “In September, if we’re not able to resume school full-time, we’ve got a model that works. If we need to expand that, we know how to do it, if we need to contract, and if we need to have more learning take place at home in an online setting, we can do that as well.”
SD73 officials are confident that they will be able to reopen safely, with Sidow saying there is an increase focused on things like hand-washing and cleaning.
“Bringing back kids in small batches and in a methodical way with very strict health and safety guidelines is the right approach,” noted Sidow. “That allows us to manage any risk that may be there. We feel very well prepared to deal with this. I really do believe that its in the best interest of a majority of kids to return to school.”
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.
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.
