School in Squamish and the rest of the Sea to Sky School district will look very different when students return to class on Sept. 10.
On Aug. 19, School District 48 held a board meeting, during which the new normal for students was discussed.
Many of the plans that were outlined by Superintendent Lisa McCullough followed the prescriptions made by the province. However, she noted that there were still a number of things that were up in the air.
"The purpose of this evening's meeting is to bring everyone briefly up to speed with where we are currently at," said McCullough. "It is not to have a completed plan yet and it is not to post it publicly yet….There will be many questions I can't answer yet."
Some of the biggest changes follow the province's plans closely.
For example, the students will be grouped into learning 'cohorts' that will be spending the majority of their time together. Students within these groups won't have to wear masks, and won't have to follow stringent physical distancing rules when they're together.
However, they will have to wear masks and distance when in the company of people outside of their cohort.
"It's like a really big bubble, and within that bubble, you can interact more closely, but it doesn't mean we're piling you all into a classroom together," McCullough said.
Some little things will also change. Students will not be allowed to use their lockers, for example. For the first few weeks, there will be few or no visitors allowed in schools.
Facilities will also have to adapt.
For example, Ian Currie, the director of operations for facilities, said that inspectors will be coming to assess ventilation systems.
Currie said that they are aiming to meet a ventilation standard that would filter out small particles such as bacteria.
However, at the moment, it's unclear if the schools have ventilation systems that will allow for those types of filters, which are usually thicker, he said.
"We're working with our mechanical engineer on coming up with a standard that would meet what we need to do with the air exchanges within all our schools," said Currie.
"We're wondering if those types of filters will fit within our existing air handling units."
High-touch surfaces will be cleaned once a day in the middle of the day.
Some familiar things will still be available.
For example, playgrounds will be open, though they won't be disinfected regularly. Food services will still be available to children who rely on them. For those with younger kids, Strong Start programs will still happen on school grounds.
The board also voted unanimously in favour of two motions.
The first pauses school bus services for non-eligible students. These are generally kids who are outside the catchment area or who live close enough to the school that they can walk the distance.
McCullough said that resources for bus services are strained and that the school district does not have enough to serve non-eligible students while still abiding by health protocols.
Generally speaking, health protocols only allow for two children per seat, whereas before it was possible to fit up to three.
The second motion directs school authorities to add homeschooling to the school district's online school program for kindergarten to Grade 9.
The details on the program are still fuzzy, but the idea is to give students who go the homeschooling route an ability to interact with certified school teachers online as part of their learning.
Previously, parents were almost entirely responsible for the learning of homeschooled students.
Homeschooling is different from the online learning that students participated in during the lockdown this past spring, because homeschooled students are in the care of their families. Families are also almost entirely in charge of the student's learning with this model.
On the other hand, online learning used this spring was teacher-directed. Students were still attending school part-time, and schools were the ones responsible for their learning.
McCullough said adding teacher supports for homeschooled kids would give families more options in light of the pandemic.
"We are going to figure this out," she said.
"Circumstances under the pandemic have changed, so we are pivoting to try and support our families."
She also said it was a way for School District 48 to maintain its student count, as parents who did not get that option might go to other school districts that offer it, thus causing a decreased student count.
Along with that would come a possible reduction in funding for Sea to Sky schools, she noted.
"If we don't do this, we could lose hundreds of kids to another school district—now we have a funding problem," said McCullough.
"So I think the best shot we have at not [losing students] is to try and keep the kids in our care. I want to be very clear, nothing about this suggestion has anything to do with money. It is simply to try to support families in a situation where they're struggling to figure out how to keep their families safe right now [when] they send their kids to school, and we hope as they build confidence in our system that they will come back in the school setting."
Indeed, one parent at the meeting said she de-registered her child for School District 48 and registered her in Victoria for online courses. She said there were about 25 other parents in a similar situation. She was reconsidering registering back in the Sea to Sky in light of this motion.
There were close to 40 people in the online audience for this meeting, most were parents.
Several had questions about what would happen to children who were immunocompromised.
McCullough told those parents to contact her so that they can develop an individualized learning plan.
As part of her presentation, she also said that immunocompromised children will be given learning programs that will allow them to work from home.
"Students who are immunocompromised—as always, this is not new—will be given a home program…. Our schools always take care of that," McCullough said.
Staff will write individual plans for these students, she said.
International student enrolment is also changing due to the pandemic. Numbers are down.
Faizel Rawji, the district principal in charge of international education, said that currently, the tally for these students is 36, with 19 more registered so far for the second semester.
The district hosted 188 such students in 2019-20.
McCullough local families have been more than willing to accommodate these students.
International students who are just arriving will quarantine before school starts.
There's also a question of whether new arrivals will be allowed to cross Canada's borders when school starts.
In the meantime, to increase enrolment, the school district is looking into offering online learning for international students, so they can participate while staying in their home countries.
McCullough also urged parents to complete an online survey that's being sent to parents. It will be crucial for helping the schools prepare for class in the midst of the pandemic.
"Every single parent, please complete this survey individually for each of your children," she said.
