Schools hopeful they can forget COVID-19 over summer holidays
Students won’t have to focus on staying away from one another when classes resume this fall at B.C. public schools.
The cohort learning model, in which students were grouped together throughout the day to try to lessen the spread of COVID-19, won’t be deployed in September, either.
“We did the best we could with the cohort system, but it was a challenge, particularly with the older students,” Central Okanagan Public Schools board chairwoman Moyra Baxter said on Thursday. “Keeping kids away from one another, well, you know how that was going to go.”
The B.C. government says students, families, teachers and staff should prepare for a near-normal return to school in September with COVID-19 cases dropping significantly and vaccination rates now above 76% for adults, and more than 50% for children aged 12 to 17.
“This was a very different school year for everyone, and school communities have done an exemplary job adapting to the challenges we all faced,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
“Now, as we transition to a new phase and continue with immunizations throughout the province, students and educators can look forward to returning to a school environment that will be much closer to what they are accustomed to.”
For the coming school year, the province is providing $43.6 million above normal enrolment-based allotments to support ongoing health and safety measures related to COVID-19.
Similar to last year, the money is to be used for enhanced cleaning of schools, improved ventilation systems and personal protection equipment.
The cohort learning model can be abandoned, provincial officials say, and expectations are that this year’s restrictions on school gatherings, extra-curricular activities and sports, will also be lifted in September.
Still to be determined, Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says, is whether staff and students will have to wear masks. That directive will come in late summer, she said, and be based on current pandemic conditions and modelling for the fall and winter.
Baxter said the school district expects to learn next week exactly how much of the $43.6 million in pandemic-related extra funding will be directed to the Central Okanagan.
“We certainly think this additional money is good news because we will have to follow through on some pandemic protocols, such as enhanced cleaning,” Baxter said.
“There will likely be a few special measures in place, but I’m very optimistic that, come September, we’ll be able to carry on almost as if things were back to normal,” she said.