Monday, August 10, 2020

SD52 explores local back to school planning as part of provincial restart plans for September

SD52 has outlined a few notes for parents/guardians, 
students and staff as they continue on with planning for the
start of School in early September


Parents and Guardians received their first note of interest from newly installed Superintendent Andrew Samoil last week, with SD52 providing a joint correspondence for the community from the Superintendent and School Board Chair James Horne.

The pair of top tier education officials sharied some thoughts on the Back to school planning currently underway at the District.

“The Board is pleased the Ministry has provided early notice of the plans for school in September. Our staff will develop a plan that will ensure the safe return of students, while continuing to ensure that each student completes their education with a sense of hope, purpose and control.” -- Board Chair James Horne

“In-person learning best meets the social and emotional needs of students. We will be working very hard over the summer to ensure that parents and students will know what to expect when they return to school in September.” -- Superintendent Andrew Samoil.

As for their notes, the School District officials observed that the local return to full time, in-class learning will be September 8th, with the key to the return of class that of safety measures towards what will be known as learning groups in the District schools.

The update for parents/students/guardians and staff (available here) observes that the School District will work to forward their plans this month, with more details to be delivered through the School District's website and social media streams

As we outlined at the end of July, the Provincial plan was introduced by the Rob Fleming, theMinister of Education on July 29th, with the Minister providing for a look at some of the measures that the BC government has put forward towards the September start.

It was a document which has been greeted with some reservations by the BCTF membership both provincially and locally in Prince Rupert.

Gabriel Bureau spoke to the topic last week with CFTK TV 7, noting that some of the larger concerns for the local membership is the learning group cohort model and how it may result in teachers, staff and students expanding on their own personal bubbles and introducing for an expansion of those personal bubbles into the classroom setting.

Mr. Bureau also provided some thoughts on the nature of physical distancing plans and how it poses some challenges; with the local teachers indicating a preference for a hybrid model for the school system which they suggest will make for a safer response.

Provincially the BCTF has released their own report on the Back to School planning by the BC Government, offering up their own range of recommendations.

BCTF President Teri Mooring has also  been making use of social media to further outline some of the key talking points from the membership when it comes to the Back to School plans.

The BCTF President also highlighted some of the work of public health authorities towards reducing the risk of COVID from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

For more notes on the planning for the return to School in September see our archive pages below:

SD52/Annunciation Archive

Remainder of Northwest BC


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