Manitoba schools prepare to welcome wildfire evacuee students

Heading back to school is going to feel very different for the Manitoba students from communities still under evacuation orders due to wildfires.

Hundreds of those students are expected to begin their years at schools in the Winnipeg School Division.  Superintendent Matt Henderson says an important part of this process is identifying where evacuated students are, and which schools would be easiest for them to attend.

“One of the things we really need to be conscious of is that we can’t send out an email and say hey, come here and register at our schools. We need to be invitational, relational and culturally responsive.”

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The district is also going to be operating with a full staff of school bus drivers when classes begin next week. That’s welcome news with more students being welcomed, as previous driver shortages had caused some disruptions.

The Brandon School Division will also be opening its doors to evacuated students. The division has already brought in additional classroom furniture, supplies, and buses to ensure the influx of an estimated 200 students doesn’t cause any challenges.

Officials with the division have also been speaking with both parents and principals from evacuated communities ahead of the start of classes, to help shape what the student experience will be.

“How that looks is going to continually evolve over the next few days,” explained Brandon School Division superintendent Mathew Gustafson.

“Meetings with the families, especially, will go a long way to help us understand how that will actually look.”