The Kamloops-Thompson School District will release its plans and guidelines for the 2021-22 school year early next week, to help students, teachers, and parents prepare for the return to class next month.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Superintendent Dr. Rhonda Nixon says she is looking forward to seeing a return to full time in person classes, noting it will make a difference as kids are now facing a third straight school year with some kind of pandemic related impacts.
“I think that its not so much challenges so much as opportunities for us to follow the health measures that have been put in place for the ministries of health and education,” Nixon said.
“I think instituting these daily health checks and staying home when sick, hand washing, daily disinfecting and cleaning protocols, you know we instituted that last year and that has been very successful in preventing transmission.”
Nixon says SD73 also supports the mask mandate in schools for all staff as well as for students in Grades 4 to 12, announced by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Education Minister, Jennifer Whiteside.
“We believe that added [mask] measure is needed at this time. We support it and that students in kindergarten to grade 3 will be strongly encouraged to wear masks,” Nixon added.
In addition to those daily health checks and cleaning protocols, there will be be a focus on implementing recommendations for ventilation including increased outside air flow routines and putting industry standard MERV 13 filters in all district buildings.
“It is not the complete return to normal that we had hoped for at the end of June,” Board Chair Rhonda Kershaw added. “But the good news for families is that our students are back in class, and they can be confident in the tremendous effort that our staff and administrators will take to ensure that our schools are safe places to learn and work.”
“We look forward to welcoming our students and families back to school. We will share more information with them next week as our District plans are finalized.”
During a press conference on Tuesday, Whiteside said about 72 per cent of school aged children in B.C. have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, while about 57 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Nixon was asked by NL’s Jeff Andreas about possibility of vaccine clinics being set up in SD73 schools so students who haven’t yet gotten a vaccine can get one.
“The truth is at this point, I just don’t have enough information to comment on the protocols for our schools with respect to vaccination clinics,” Nixon said. “But certainly, of course, we are going to support the encouragement of vaccines for our students who can do so and for our staff and any adults who are working with us in our buildings.”
Most students in SD73 will return to class at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021, after the Labour Day weekend. The exception will be Kindergarten students and students at Brock Middle School.
Parents are being told to contact their individual schools for the specific information.
