Schools across Manitoba reopened their doors in a limited capacity Monday, just over two months after COVID-19 concerns shuttered much of the province.
At Ecole Riviere-Rouge, students are doing small group sessions for two hours once a week with their teacher.
“It’s a very exciting day,” Ecole Riviere-Rouge principal Cheryl Gaudet said. “I must admit we were a little anxious last week as we were preparing for students to come back but today has been a very exciting day.”
Different protocols are in place at the schools, including screening students before entering, providing hand sanitizer at the doorways, directional signage on the floors, washing hands when entering the class and enforcing physical distancing in the classroom.
“I’m excited, I think he really needs the social interaction,” parent Erica Suderman told Global News.
Suderman also says remote learning was no easy task.
“It’s been harder than I ever thought it would be, I’m not a teacher and I had a hard time with everything with them,” she said. “Just getting them motivated and the technology barriers, getting them used to working with apps we were given, it was hard.”
Ecole Riviere-Rouge expects about two-thirds of their students back this month. But some parents won’t be sending their children back to class until the fall.
“We’ve decided not to send our kids back to the school in any capacity mostly because of the safety concerns around it,” said Sarah Johnson, who has two children in the St. James Assiniboia School Division.
“I’m not sure if we’re ready to reopen the schools yet, and I’d rather be cautious.”
Full classroom learning remains suspended, but the second phase of Manitoba’s reopening plan allows teachers and students to attend schools in one-on-one or small group settings.
The province wants to give educators a chance to assess how students have managed with remote learning, and come up with a plan for the fall, when classroom learning is expected to resume.
Also permitted under phase two:
- Day camps and summer programming.
- Counselling and emergency phone access.
- Outdoor facilities and playgrounds.
- Sports, band, and other extracurricular activities (choirs and musical theatre are excluded due to higher risk of transmission).
- Students can schedule to use school Wi-Fi and/or computer equipment.
Schools must still abide by public health orders to maintain physical distancing of at least two metres, and allow no more than 25 people per room.
Additionally, they’re encouraged to stagger students’ schedules, provide separate entrances for different groups when possible, frequently sanitize, and avoid sharing items.
Despite the health directives and occupancy limits, the Manitoba Teachers’ Society is still hesitant about returning to an in-person setting.
“We see the need, and we support the need, to bring students in for a one-on-one assessment, for some small group learning to take place,” says James Bedford, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society.
“But we really feel that if teaching from home is working, our members really don’t see a need to disrupt that by relocating their teaching practice back to their classroom.”
Bedford also points out each school division can approach the reopening plan in their own way, and won’t necessarily need to open their doors at all.
“It’s not that we are taking this as “everybody is going back to school starting on Monday,” that’s not how we interpret this announcement. It’s another tool that’s available to teachers to get the work done before the end of the school year,” Bedford says.
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