‘It’s a bit of a risk’: Temporary remote learning coming to an end in Regina

Ava Klinger has been learning about integers online from a substitute teacher for the past few days.

“It’s a little bit harder,” said the Grade 8 St. Jerome School student, adding her regular teacher, who is in isolation, had been explaining how to multiply and divide the numbers “pretty well.”

Like her three younger sisters, Ava Klinger said she’s ready to return to her physical classroom on Monday.

“It’s a bit of a risk,” she said. “But our school is taking every precaution and every safety for every student.”

With community spread of the novel coronavirus prevalent throughout the fall, Regina’s public and Catholic school divisions announced in early December that students would temporarily move online for the week before the scheduled holiday break and the week after.

“Prior to Christmas, there was extreme anxiety with the number of cases that were increasing , reports every day that we were hitting alarming rates,” said Dom Scuglia, the Regina Catholic School Division’s director of education.

Some parents were opting to keep their kids home, he said, adding that about one-third of students were absent.

Although Scuglia said evidence indicates there has been low transmission in school settlings, both teachers and students were constantly in isolation with COVID-19 or because they had been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

On average, the school division was short about eight substitute teachers each day, he noted.

It was a similar story for Regina Public Schools.

In a statement, the public school board’s communications supervisor, Terry Lazarou, said the school board was confident that the “two week, temporary online learning contributed to helping keep students and staff safe.”

Both Scuglia and Lazarou said their respective division’s are looking forward to reopening their brick-and-mortar buildings (out of which teachers have been working) to students in just a few days.

Ava Klinger’s mother, Miranda Klinger, said the switch to online learning around the holidays was a good decision, but that she trusts her daughters will be in a safe environment and thinks they benefit from being in their regular classrooms.

“Regardless of if they were going back next week or the week after of the week after, there would still be worry about cases rising or cases showing up in schools,” she said.

“We’re still in the middle of a pandemic.”

Miranda Klinger said she’s been lucky to have a flexible work schedule that’s allowed her to help her younger daughters Kendal (Grade 5), Morgan (Grade 4) and Arwen (Grade 2) with their studies.

“I know that’s not a reality for lots of people,” she continued, but described the situation for her family as “organized chaos from nine to three every day.

“It’s a lot on the go,” she said.

Like their older sister, the three younger girls are looking forward to see their friends and their teachers face-to-face again.

“I’m really excited to go back to school,” said Arwen Klinger.

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