On March 27, the Ministry of Education released a long statement, and a comprehensive guide for parents with children out of school. Because of COVID-19 safety precautions, schools have been out since March 17, and parents have been wondering what the solution would be.
The bulletin updated parents, and shared advice on how they could cope.
“While in-person classes are suspended, the B.C. school system remains open to continue to support students and families in a variety of ways. Note that parents should not bring their children to school on March 30, as they usually would after spring break,” said Minister of Education, Rob Fleming.
“While it’s important for kids to keep learning, there is no expectation that we can duplicate a normal school day at home, and every family will need to figure out what works best for them, in discussion with their children’s teachers,” added Fleming, also noting that he understood that many children were experiencing anxiety at this time, so wished to reassure them that the new moves were to keep everyone safe, and that regular schooling would happen again “down the road.”
Schools are potentially opened for the children of frontline healthworkers this week, but it’s requested they contact the principals first. The children of essential services providers will receive more information about their options by April 3, said the press release.
The Ministry of Education has also launched a new resource for parents to use with their children at home www.openschool.bc.ca/keeplearning/
The webpage has options which parents can use for everyday education activities, annotated links to free learning resources, and other resources on how to help children learn and stay mentally, physically and emotionally healthy while at home, including mental health crisis numbers for across the province and nation-wide.
And there’s an accompanying guide, of Frequently Asked Questions, for parents to look over to stay informed, as well.
They’ve also shared some basic reassurance in the bulletin for people concerned about some of the issues that have come up:
“Every student in K-12 will receive a final mark for the 2019-20 school year, and all students who are on track to move to the next grade will do so in the fall; Every student eligible to graduate from Grade 12 this school year will also graduate; And the Ministry of Education is also working across government to ensure all students graduating high school will have a smooth transition to post-secondary education,” states the press release.
“Given that our students are on spring break until April 6, we are looking at the options for post spring break as the health crisis is changing almost daily. We are in contact with the Ministry, Northern Health and other school districts almost daily to help our planning,” said assistant superintendent of Nechako Lakes School District #91, Mike Skinner.
“There is a high level of collaboration and sharing across the province during these uncharted times,” he said.
UBC was also scheduled to have practicum students and field experience program students (an option type of teaching experience course) but these have been cancelled, said Skinner.
And new to the area this year would have been two students doing their teaching practicum from Lakehead University in Ontario, but these have also been cancelled, he added.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is changing daily and such, definitive plans for April 6th are not solidified at this point, but we’re working with Public Health, Ministry of Ed, and others around BC. This is a fluid situation and many questions still need to be examined across the province and locally,” said Skinner.