The novel coronavirus might have changed life as we know it, but the West Vancouver School District is trying to make school life as normal—and safe—as students need to it be.
“This fall will look different than any previous years,” superintendent Chris Kennedy said in a video released on Friday, August 21. As everyone adapts to this new normal, “we will need to be calm, thoughtful, flexible, compassionate and creative…
“We’ll need to work together, one step at a time—all of us.”
A final draft will be on the district’s website by the end of this week, with more details to follow.
Personal measures
New safety protocols include staying at home when you’re sick, meeting hand hygiene expectations, and undergoing daily personal health checks for all staff and students.
Reusable masks have been ordered and will be supplied to all staff and students who request them.
Wearing non-medical mask or face coverings in the classroom is a personal choice for students and staff. However, masks are mandatory for all staff in common areas as well as all secondary students in hallways and when interacting outside of learning cohorts. All students, at any grade level, are required to wear a mask on buses.
Additional custodial staff has been hired to meet new sanitizing protocols.
What the day will look like
There will be staggered start and end times, as well as staggered recesses and lunch breaks.
Learning groups or cohorts are groups intended to reduce the number of people each student and teacher comes in contact with.
At the elementary level, life will not look a lot different than it did in previous years. Your learning group is your class. When interacting outside their learning group, students will be required to maintain physical distance.
For secondary students, it will be different, Kennedy said.
Like many school districts in B.C., West Vancouver is adopting a quarter system. Students take two courses at a time for 10 weeks and repeat for a total of four quarters. This keeps learning groups small. In some cases, it will be 30 students; at no time will it be more than 120 students.
This system maximizes student in-person instruction, choices and course options, Kennedy said. It’s scalable between stages.
There will be built-in flex time on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to support vulnerable students, tutorials, academies, remote teaching and courses that do not fit into the quarterly time table.
“We are absolutely committed to running a full slate of programs,” Kennedy said. “This means electives, academies, IB, AP and all the offerings required for graduation and post-secondary school.”
Most students will have 100 per cent in-school teaching but, in older grades, they might have hybrid options.
Teachers will still provide Google classrooms for all K to 12 students.
“We know there will be greater student absences with the need to be away because of colds or flu symptoms,” Kennedy said. Google classrooms allow students to keep up while they are away from school.
The district will continue to ensure students with diverse abilities and disabilities will have equitable access to learning.
For parents who are looking for options other than full-time, in-person learning, the district is still working on what the criteria and process to be.
Transportation
Regular bus transportation will resume with start of new year. Students will hear directly from the district’s transportation manager by end of August on new health and safety protocols.
Return to school
All staff will be in schools Sept. 8 and 9 for orientation. This will include briefings on the new protocols and learning about new schedules. Students will return either Sept.10 or 11. Schools will directly contact students directly to let them know which date.
“We continue to be in this together,” Kennedy said. Anyone with questions can email [email protected].
Martha Perkins is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
The original story appeared here.
