No decision yet on extending Holiday break for Nova Scotia schools

Over the past three weeks, 10 schools across Nova Scotia have reported at least one case of the coronavirus since the start of the second wave.

This week, six of those schools that temporarily closed have returned to class after a brief stint of online learning. Temporary closure allowed schools to undergo a deep cleaning and to give Public Health a chance to conduct contact tracing.

Meanwhile, three other schools, including Ian Forsyth Elementary in Dartmouth, Park West School in Halifax, and Berwick and District school will reopen Thursday, with Shannon Park in Dartmouth set to reopen Monday.

In this this week’s cabinet meeting, Education Minister Zach Churchill repeated his mantra that schools in Nova Scotia remain a safe place for students.

“We haven’t seen any evidence of (COVID-19) spread within schools,” said Churchill. “In each positive case that we’ve identified, the individuals contracted the virus outside of school.”

Since the first school-related case in the province was detected on Nov. 17, only 12 cases of the virus have been linked to schools across the province.

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union is now calling on the province to announce an extended holiday break, which is regularly set to run from December 23rd until January 1st.

As far as an extension to that holiday break goes, Churchill said that’s not a decision he can make on his own.

“We haven’t landed on a decision there yet,” said Churchill. “We’re going to lean on Public Health to see what their determination is.”

The opposition agreed, saying it’s logical to extend the break if Public Health recommends it.

“I would be very supportive of extending the break if Public Health deems it necessary,” said PC leader Tim Houston on Wednesday.

As winter sets in, some parents have raised concerns about heat return and ventilation systems inside schools being inadequate, but Churchill said no red flags were identified during a province-wide ventilation system sweep.

“If any maintenance or investment is needed to respond to the issue (of ventilation) we are ready to respond to that immediately,” said Churchill.

Public Health has approved all school facilities and deemed them safe, said Churchill. He said over the summer, the province spent $2.7 million to ensure all school ventilation systems met the mark.