Online learning leaves gaps for high schoolers
Parents say losing labs, extracurriculars unfair and move is not backed up by data
High school students are worried they'll receive less hands-on learning, including limited access to science labs, due to the UCP government's shutdown of in-person classes for grades 7 to 12 beginning Monday.
And parents are asking why some schools that have been successful in controlling COVID-19 have to close as part of a provincewide lockdown of junior and senior high, saying they are being punished for transmissions occurring outside of their buildings.
Lydia Scratch, whose son is a Grade 12 IB student at Western Canada High School, says he is concerned about his Chemistry 30 lab work, including an independent assignment that is hands-on and requires access to a chemistry lab.
“When you are in IB you need to get in a certain number of lab hours, and he worries about how he's going to complete that. I don't think any of the students will be able to,” Scratch said.
“And what about next term, when he'll have even more sciences?”
Grade 7 to 12 students across Alberta will head back to online learning Monday after Premier Jason Kenney issued a state of emergency earlier this week amid rapidly rising cases of COVID-19.
While grades 7 to 12 move online next week, K-6 students will stay in class. All students will have winter break from Dec. 19 to Jan. 3. Then all students will do one week of online learning from Jan. 4 to 8, and in-person classes will resume for all grades on Jan. 11.
Parents were particularly surprised at the announcement given Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw had repeatedly stated that few schools were experiencing transmission within their buildings, and that it is critical they stay open for the mental health of students.
But at the same time, worship services, malls, stores, bars, restaurants and casinos remain open, at lower capacities.
Dr. J. Edward Les, a pediatric emergency physician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, also argued in his blog this week about the lack of fairness around shuttering inclass learning for older kids.
“If you're an 18-year-old teenager, in Grade 12, you can go to church next week and pray for luck before heading off to a casino to play the slots, then stuff your face at a restaurant and cap it off with a few beers at the local pub ... but you can't go to school.”
Parents also add that many schools, including Western Canada High School, have never experienced high case loads, or watch alerts, with more than five cases at a time, and have had success in managing outbreaks with responsible behaviour.
Karin Gerritsen, who has children in grades 7 and 9, and her eldest in Grade 11 at Western Canada High School, says all of them are now forced to learn at home, losing all their extracurriculars and the benefits of in-class learning.
“It's a really sad reality for them, it's just so unfair because they've worked so hard and done so well,” said Gerritsen, saying Western Canada in particular has had very few cases since classes started.
“We can count the number of cases on one hand, maybe two. We have not had any watch alerts. Kids are Purelling, they're masking and they're reminding friends at school to do the right thing.
“So, for them, it just feels really unfair.”
Gerritsen, who works as a data scientist in the non-profit sector, says with more than 80 per cent of cases coming from unknown sources, shutting down in-person classes for older students won't have an effect on case counts.
“Our government is essentially locking down our youth — they took away their sports, their in-person schooling and yet these decisions are based on no data.”
Much of Gerritson's research tracks data in other parts of the world, and she says countries such as the Netherlands are now overcapacity for COVID testing — they have too many tests and not enough people are coming to get tested.
“And with that, their data still shows only 8.5 per cent of cases come from schools. That makes sense. It's not negligible, but it's not the majority of where cases are coming from either. And it would not trigger closures.”
Gerritsen added that if her children were living in the Netherlands, they would be participating in sports and attending school.
Officials with the Calgary Board of Education are providing more details around online supports for students in grades 7 to 12 beginning next week, vowing teachers will be fully available to provide live instruction and follow the same schedules.
“From Nov. 30 to Dec. 18, and for the first week after the winter break, students and teachers will continue to follow their current timetable online, including any complementary courses,” Christopher Usih, CBE superintendent, said in a letter to parents Thursday afternoon.