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Two B.C. schools close due to staff ‘illness,’ ministry says

Click to play video: 'COVID-19: Parents, teachers anxious as kids head back to school amid Omicron wave'
COVID-19: Parents, teachers anxious as kids head back to school amid Omicron wave
B.C. parents and teachers are voicing their anxiety as the province's children prepare to return to in-class learning amid the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace Ke reports – Jan 9, 2022

Two schools have stopped in-person classes in B.C., less than two days after most students returned to classrooms following an extended holiday break due to the surging COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Ginger Fuller, secretary-treasurer of the Coast Mountain School District, says officials will meet Wednesday to decide when to reopen Hazelton Secondary School to regular classes after it was closed because of a staff shortage, which was the result of “illness.”

The ministry said the independent Bibleway Christian Academy in Surrey has also suspended in-person classes.

No one from the school was immediately available to comment.

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Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says local school administration officials, including principals, make decisions about closing in-person classes and moving to temporary online teaching.

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