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We’re closing in on the dog days of summer, and they look very different for many of us. Less childcare, less freedom of movement, and lots of questions about what comes next. Today families finally got some answers to one of the most persistent questions: What will school look like in the fall? The answer is that if the cases of COVID-19 remain low in Nova Scotia, school will look more similar to years past than many of us expected.
The Education Minister and Dr. Strang held a news conference this afternoon to announce that public school students across the province will return to class on Tuesday, September 8th. Classrooms will look different, with increased physical distancing and smaller cohorts of students. Cafeterias will remain closed and assemblies will not take place but some sports and clubs will be allowed to continue. Masking will not be required in classrooms but will be on busses and in hallways for older students. Children who appear sick will be immediately distanced from other students and sent home.
The Minister and Dr. Strang also discussed contingency plans for a blended or entirely distance learning model that could be put into effect in the case of a change in epidemiology and virus activity. This could be implemented across the board, in individual schools, or in a family of schools as needed. The conditions for these changes will be evaluated on a go-forward basis and there are no clear benchmarks for what would trigger these changes.
All details are available in the Back to School Plan on the Government of Nova Scotia's Coronavirus website.
While we are glad that the government has found a way to send students back to school safely in the fall, and especially that they have accepted our recommendations around prioritizing diverse learners and those without access to technology in the case of a blended model, we still have many questions:
- Will there be enough space in our HRM schools?
- How are SACs looped into this conversation?
- How will working parents be accommodated now that there will (necessarily) be a zero-tolerance policy for sniffles, etc.?
What questions do you have? Please let me know and I’ll be sure to pass them along.
Best,
Claudia
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