Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

RETURN TO SCHOOL

SD73 and Kamloops teachers preparing schools for voluntary, part-time return of students

May 19, 2020 | 5:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was almost two weeks ago Premier Horgan announced that school would re-open to students voluntarily.

After a week of little detail from the Province, Horgan and Education Minister Rob Fleming held a Friday news conference to help clarify what the plan to return to school would look like. On Tuesday, schools were starting to put the plan into action.

“We have regular meetings with the Kamloops-Thompson Teachers Association and CUPE,” Superintendent Alison Sidow says. “Those have been really key meetings, in terms of making sure we’re sharing information and that people are comfortable with the direction we’re moving in.”

Laurel Macpherson is President of the KTTA. She says teachers have some concerns but are taking direction from the Province on how schools will operate once kids begin coming back.

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“We have to look to the Provincial Health Officer and the recommended guidelines,” Macpherson says. “While we’re concerned the Provincial Health Officer doesn’t work in schools, there’s an expectation we will be able to function in buildings and practice social distancing. Hopefully, it all works.”

Along with supporting vulnerable students, Sidow says it’s vital to get kids back into the classroom for June to help educators plan for the next steps in the recovery from the pandemic.

“We’re preparing for a future we just don’t quite understand,” Sidow says. “We don’t know what September will look like, and we want to make sure we have a model we can roll with into September if need be.”

According to Macpherson, teachers have some concerns about returning to work. However, maybe the most significant problem the KTTA President has is how staff will adapt to the new blended system of online and -in-person instruction.

“it’s going to be a bit of a juggling act,” Macpherson says. “While we’re hopeful we can do it – and teachers are pretty good at managing a lot of things – education will look different.”

Students in SD73 from Kindergarten to Grade Five will be able to return to class on June 1st.