In B.C., teachers, parents prepare for a return to class

Officials hope reopening of all schools will offer some relief to students

VANCOUVER— If one thing is certain about the reopening of schools in British Columbia — the first Canadian jurisdiction poised to do so provincewide after Quebec backtracked on its plans for Montreal — it’s that they won’t look anything like the normal picture of schools in June.

Rambunctious games of tag and sugar-fuelled gossip sessions will make way for traffic-monitored hallways, one student on each school bus seat and orderly outdoor games that guarantee participants can keep two metres apart from one another. At least, that’s the plan. Much else is yet to be determined for the reopening slated for June 1 — including, crucially, how many students will show up under a system of voluntary attendance and how teachers will juggle in-class duties with continued online learning for those staying home.

B.C. officials have been watching what has been done in other jurisdictions around the world, such as Denmark, where schools have been open under strict distancing rules for a month. Quebec schools outside of Montreal opened last week, while those in the province’s biggest city will stay closed until September.

Saskatchewan, Alberta and Nova Scotia are among the provinces that have committed to keeping all schools closed until next September. Ontario is expected to announce a decision on the question this week.

On Friday, Carolyn Howe, a kindergarten and elementary music teacher in Victoria, found herself reimagining all of her lesson plans for the second time in as many months.

With the little ones, she plans to go outside as much as possible, keeping them engaged with drawing and games to reduce the chance that they wander too close to one another. With the music students, she wondered whether singing would be off-limits due to the droplet-spreading potential.

It’s a complete classroom overhaul, and it’s coming in two weeks.

“I use singing so much in all of my classroom management,” Howe said. “I sing to them; they sing back to me. I’m really wondering about that, and it makes me sad.”

Despite the strict health and safety restrictions and altered learning plans, B.C. leaders hope the reopening of all schools will give students the relief of seeing their friends in a safe environment while easing them back into the classroom learning that they have missed for the past two months due to COVID-19.

With a new guidance in place, public health officials believe it can be done safely.

“This transition is voluntary, but I believe it will be net positive for the kids of B.C.,” Premier John Horgan said in a news conference Friday, adding it wouldn’t be happening if the government and public health officials thought it involved undue risk to students or staff.

The key feature of B.C.’s June back-to-school plan, aside from the swath of classroom and logistical adjustments that will need to be made at school levels to guarantee physical distancing and twice-daily cleaning — is that students will return on a part-time basis, dramatically reducing the number of students in class at any particular time.

For kids from kindergarten to Grade 5, that means going to school about 50 per cent of the time, while students in grades six and above will only attend class in-person once a week.

Changes will also be made to how school buses operate, with one student per seat, and Plexiglas barriers put up to protect drivers.

B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming said the lower class numbers will allow school administrators to make decisions such as spacing out desks and holding outdoor lessons where possible, to keep kids the requisite distance from one another.

The aim, Fleming said, is to keep students learning with their own teachers and in the same class configurations as before the pandemic began. But exceptions will be made for teachers with underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk for COVID-19 to continue teaching online only. Students, teachers and staff will all be expected to stay home if they experience even the most minor of symptoms.

Class capacities are likely to be even lower than 50 per cent of pre-pandemic times, as many parents express apprehension or even incredulity at the idea of sending their kids back to class so late in the year, against the backdrop of a global pandemic.

Coquitlam mother of two Shari O’Neill is one of the parents who will be keeping her kids at home. Her son, Grade 7, and her daughter, Grade11, both have individualized education plans intended to help students with specific or heightened learning needs. Learning from home has been a big challenge.

“I sure wish school was just flying along as usual,” she said. But, with only a month left in the regular school year, O’Neill says the risks of the pandemic outweigh the rewards of sending her kids back to school one day a week. “There’s no guarantees. And I’m not willing to put my kids at risk for that.”

With a new guidance in place, public health officials believe it can be done safely