SD83 has received additional news from the Ministry of Education today, which announced school start up will be slightly delayed to allow for safety orientation for staff and students.
Staff will be back to school on September 8th & 9th with students welcomed back to school starting on September 10th.
“Schools are going to look different in September,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education comments in the release. “Staff, students and parents need time to get familiar with all the new health and safety procedures that are designed to keep them safe and confident in their school settings.”
Starting Sept. 8, all SD83 staff will meet with their school’s joint health and safety committee to receive instructions about how the updated guidelines, co-developed with the BC Centre for Disease Control and provincial health officer, will work in their school. This will also allow time for educators and staff to adjust to their new routines, finalize plans for learning groups, review health and safety protocols, and confirm lessons plans that align with the new normal in schools.
Students will be welcomed back to class for orientation by Sept. 10 and will use their orientation time to get familiar with classrooms that will look different than they did before the pandemic. Students will be assigned to their class, find out who is in their learning group, practise their new routines and familiarize themselves with how to safely move from the classroom to outdoor and common areas of the school.
READ COMPLETE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION RELEASE HERE
With the COVID-19 landscape, SD83 asks that, although it is hard, parents please be patient as staff work to determine safety protocols, how busing is impacted, what classrooms will look like, what school schedules will be, how timetables will be set up at the secondary level, and whether there can be local online solutions for our elementary and middle school-aged students. We are working to have detailed information to our parents by late August.