When you open School District 91’s website, you will notice the hard-to-miss COVID-19 related updates and resources. The website provides links to several useful resources, ranging from guidelines for social distancing and hand washing, to updates from the Ministry of Education. One such update from the schools’ Superintendent Manu Madhok, is from March 18, of a statement outlining measures taken by the school district in order to find a new normal given the situation, while ensuring the safety of the students and the staff.
The letter outlines the schools’ efforts to adhere to the Ministry of Education’s mandate of considering this period as continuity of educational opportunities. To formulate its plan based on this, the school district surveyed the parents through online forms and through direct interaction with the teachers. The teachers were asked to call up the parents to find out how the COVID situation had impacted their family, what the family needed and how the school could help them out through the crisis.
“We are really trying to tailor to what each family needs, student needs and we are trying to meet those goals for each family,” said Mike Skinner, the Assistant Superintend of SD91.
The survey revealed that the needs of parents and students differed from school to school, and community to community. A lot of parents showed preference to a hybrid model, with some online support and some work sent home. Apart from the parental preferences, the school district’s rural location is another factor that is shaping the way the education plan is unfolding for its students.
“We are not a large metropolitan area with fibre optic internet so we got feedback on all of those things,” said Skinner, adding how that is also a reason why families are preferring portions of school work offline, wanting to pick up the packages at school or wanting them to be dropped off at homes. “We have been making arrangements for that.”
Skinner also mentioned that the district is lending technology to families who might not have access to it. Even though he was not certain of the number of devices that were sent out, he confirmed the computer techs’ preparations of some laptops for home use by families.
With the various study materials being sent out and a variety of approaches being implemented for continuing the students’ learning, each day will look different for each student. To elaborate on this, Skinner pointed out that the usual school day for most high school students coming in to the school is around five and a half hours however, the school district realized that not all high school students should and could put in that sort of time from home, everyday.
“And the Ministry has been quite clear that it is continuity of learning and not regular school. We are not trying to replicate regular school. We are not trying to replicate the same rotation or same hours per week as regular school. And we need to really look at what each family needs” added Skinner.
And because one glove doesn’t fit all, the school district is also trying to find solutions for students who need special attention, or were previously in speech therapy or occupational therapy. The school district’s learning services department has been reaching out to the families and although right now the schools are taking the support of technology, Skinner also indicated that having those students who need in-person attention come back to school, either in smaller groups or individually, “is not off the table right now”.
Speaking of vulnerable groups, the school district has also been working on finding solutions for the children of the essential services workers (ESW). Early on in the crisis, the school district designated one elementary school in each community to be the site for students to come to.
“We now have approximately between 20 and 25 students attending at the William Konkin Elementary School at Burns Lake, since last Tuesday. We have some teacher support and some support staff working in multiple classrooms, obviously not all together,” said Skinner. The school district has a similar site running in Vanderhoof with a much smaller group and is working on a plan with the First Nations’ School to support the ESW families in Fort St. James.
The impact of COVID-19 on school students goes beyond education, and has also affected the meal programs that were in place when the schools were in session. Skinner assures that the district is putting together plans to ensure the students who were part of the meal programs are still being served. In fact, the high school in Burns Lake approached the LINK food bank for a potential partnership to serve the students and the affected families, and the first delivery was on Tuesday. “It’s going to be breakfast and fresh fruit and providing grocery hampers to families as well. Some schools are purchasing gift cards to local grocery stores and getting those to the families that need it and we are working on some community partnerships as well”, he added.
COVID-19 measures are also affecting this year’s graduates. In a letter to parents on April 26, Superintendent Madhok, notified that based on the recommendations from the Provincial Health Officer, Dr Bonnie Henry, “normal graduation ceremonies and associated dances and proms will be cancelled for this year.” He also assured parents that the high schools would still make some alternative, creative plans in place of the normal graduation ceremonies, for the 2020 graduates.
“Our District is trying to meet the needs of families to the best of our abilities and I am really impressed with people, with how they have pulled together. Knowing that we are all in this together and by working together, we will do the best we can. I think, that’s where we are at and you never know, maybe before the end of the year we will have some kind of in person instruction back,” he said.