CFJC Today file photo

By Dylana Kneeshaw

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

School District 73 prioritizing infrastructure upgrades and future illness prevention methods

Sep 8, 2020 | 4:34 PM

KAMLOOPS — Teachers and staff are back in schools this week, getting prepared to welcome students in for a new year. Around 4,000 new students are expected to enter B.C classrooms this year, and School District 73 is preparing for a student body increase in Kamloops.

Local schools are preparing to have most students return and Interim Superintendent Terry Sullivan says they’re also expecting some form of increase.

“It’s important that we see who returns and how many return because then we want to focus in on those students who need alternate learning models — children with special needs, children who are immunocompromised or have someone in their family who is immunocompromised.”

Sullivan led the District during both the SARS wave and H1N1. Now navigating COVID-19, Sullivan says he feels viruses are going to be a recurring issue.

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: October 10, 2024

4h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: If it's Tuesday, this must be Kamloops

14h ago

Question of the Week

Is returning to a balanced budget one of your BC election priorities?

Oct 07, 2024

“And that means we have to plan accordingly. We have to plan the infrastructure in our system, the way we staff our system,” he explains. “There are a number of things that I think I’m going to have to get my head around this year because there are more of these coming as we look five and ten years down the road.”

Preparation has already begun. The first half of $242 million in federal and provincial funding will be distributed to school districts this month. Each district can choose how to use the money and Kamloops has long-term improvements in mind.

“We have to be careful with this money, though. We have to be careful not to put it into areas of staffing, where once the money is gone, the staffing has to be gone with it,” Sullivan stresses. “We have to look at things like HVAC systems and air and air quality — those types of issues that are going to have some ongoing impacts.”

Parental concerns are high right now and Sullivan says he is well aware of the anxiety. He recalls going to school during the polio epidemic.

“I remember the fear in the eyes of my parents because they didn’t know whether to send us to school or not send us to school. It was so random. You just didn’t know where it was going to hit, the consequences were severe. I think we’re much better prepared today. There’s so much more we know. Our health officers are so much better prepared.”

As doors open again on Thursday (Sept. 10) with new safety measures, the Kamloops-Thompson School District says it will be monitoring staff and student health closely.