Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Jill Sperling

Back to School?

School District 73 prepares for voluntary return of elementary students

May 7, 2020 | 3:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — School District 73 is developing a plan for teachers and students after Premier John Horgan announced a voluntary return to classes for some students.

Beginning after the May Long weekend at the earliest, Kindergarten to Grade 5 students will be allowed to return to school on a scheduled and part-time basis.

“We’re very fortunate because we have many of our staff and some students already in schools on a scheduled basis and so for us it’s about expanding the number of people in the school in a thoughtful, measured way,” said Superintendent of Schools Alison Sidow.

School District 73 has been providing in-class instruction for students of essential service workers.

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All students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 will be permitted to return to classes before the end of the school year if their families choose to send them.

Students will also have the option of continuing their education remotely.

“We need to be able to manage both the online and in-person functions of the educational programming,” Sidow said. “That will be done in consultation with principals and teachers and likely implemented, or it will be ready to be implemented by the 19th.”

The school district plans to have teachers continue to connect with students online even as they return to school.

“Students won’t be coming back K-to-5 on a full-time basis,” Sidow said. “They’ll be coming back in smaller groups, during scheduled times and there will be time available for teachers to also work with those students who are still at home.”

Sidow says class sizes will likely be limited to no more than 15 students and classrooms will be set up in a way to adhere to physical distancing measures.

The district will also have to find a way to screen for illness.

“We will always be encouraging staff to stay home if they’re not feeling well,” Sidow said. “We will be making sure that students who are unwell will not be in our buildings and I can imagine that surface cleaning and some of our cleaning practices and hand-washing and hygiene will continue to be completed in a manner that is a higher standard than we saw previously before the pandemic.”

Schools will not fully open to all students until September at the earliest.

The school district met with the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers’ Association (KTTA) late Thursday (May 7) afternoon.

CFJC Today anticipates comments from the KTTA on Friday.