Foothills schools are following the advice of Alberta’s chief medical officer as they prepare to welcome students this fall.
Scott Morrison, superintendent of CTR Catholic Schools, said the division has followed Dr. Deena Hinshaw’s recommendations throughout the pandemic and that won’t change heading into the 2021-22 school year.
“She’s the legitimate public health expert, and we decided we need to defer to her because we don’t have the expertise to make recommendations nor to make mandates,” said Morrison.
He said the return to school will look similar to last year.
The most notable difference will be the choice to mask-up rather than mandatory face coverings, though all students and teachers are encouraged to have a mask on-hand. As per Provincial mandate, masks are required on buses.
Students will be taught respect and acceptance of the decisions of others who choose whether or not to wear a mask in the classroom, said Morrison.
Increased daytime cleaning and providing supplies to students to do their own cleaning, and teaching good habits around handwashing and respiratory etiquette will remain par for the course.
“The only difference this year is we’re really encouraging our teachers to give the students more responsibility in that regard,” said Morrison. “We found they (the teachers) took on a lot. This way kids are much more able to develop their own good habits and routines.”
While cohorting was put in place by about half of CTR Catholic schools last year, he said it has not been a key part of the division’s re-entry plans.
Elementary-aged students stay with the same class every day, besides the odd exceptions such as sharing gym or music classes, he said. At the junior high level, students stick to their homeroom group outside of options courses.
At the high school level, there is no intentional cohorting in place.
“There are too many compromises to kids’ programs if you try to cohort – the kids can’t get the education they choose,” said Morrison. “It’s just too challenging, especially in small schools.”
The Province has indicated school assemblies and gatherings can resume, and Morrison said principals have been asked to use alternative means of gathering whenever possible.
Last year, many schools ran virtual assemblies over videoconference streamed to each classroom.
“We’ve told our principals if the objective of an assembly can be achieved in another way, then choose that other way,” said Morrison.
Since the division sent out a copy of its 2021-22 school plan to parents, he said correspondence has been streaming in and about 70 per cent support the direction CTR is moving.
Most of those who voiced concern with the plan thought the division should have gone further and made masks mandatory, he said.
As for the staff, he said for the most part people are cautiously optimistic about the new school year.
“No one is naïve – we see the cases rising and it’s a concern,” said Morrison. “We feel a sense of responsibility and we feel, just like anybody else, a sense of uncertainty. I think it would be naïve not to feel uncertainty.”
Foothills School Division released its school renewal plan, focused on reconnecting and rebuilding the aspects of learning and socialization that were missed last year.
“There were a lot of pieces missing to a fulfilling school year, both from a student standpoint and a staff standpoint, as well as a community standpoint,” said Chris Fuzessy, superintendent of the Foothills School Division.
He said the theme for FSD is Four Rs: require, recommend, respond and respect.
The division is following the recommendations of Dr. Hinshaw and requirements put out by Alberta Health Services and Alberta Education, such as masking on buses.
However, FSD is also asking that students, teachers and visitors don a face covering while entering and exiting the schools, and is using staggered entry and exit strategies to reduce traffic flow during busy times of the day.
There will be cohorting in place, though not as strictly as last year, he said.
Where individual classes each had their own designated play space each recess and were not permitted to interact on the playground, groups of students in the same grade will be able to share space and play together at recess this year, he said.
“Some of the feedback we heard was a challenge for students and for the community last year was the restrictiveness of that cohorting,” said Fuzessy. “At the same time, we want to keep it in the same grade level for this year to ensure there are less contacts overall.”
Last year Foothills Composite High School achieved its cohorts by moving to a quarterly system, which meant students only had two classes per day as opposed to four or five. This year the school is returning to a semester system.
In the area of “respond,” he said the division will continue to communicate changes as they arise throughout the year, should the Province deem it necessary to add restrictions or possibly to repeal some mandates.
The school board will receive ongoing feedback from the ground level through its school renewal committee, a group of parents, staff, school leaders, trustees, and community representatives who met to advise on the re-entry plans.
“That committee decided to stay intact through the beginning of the school year, in order to monitor how it’s going and provide us continuous feedback,” said Fuzessy.
One of the most important aspects of returning to school will be the respect piece, he said, adding there are a number of varying perspectives on public health measures and education during the pandemic, and it will be imperative to accept what others believe and the choices they make when it comes to things like wearing masks.
“We believe that the way we got through last year was by working with each other and respecting one another’s choices,” said Fuzessy. “That’s going to be an emphasis for us as well, and that’s part of the messaging we’ve put together. That’s how we’re moving forward.”
