The Government of BC has established that schools in BC must be, at a minimum, offering the following direct service levels to students by June 1.
The Ministry has set “density” limits (number of students in the class) of 50% for K to Grade 5 and 20% for Grade 6 to12, and recommended instructional times of 2 to 3 days per week for K to Grade 5 students, and one day per week for Grade 6 and 7 students. Districts and regions can propose some variance of the above guidelines, provided any delivery beyond these requirements is within guidelines established by the Public Health Authority. Please know that whether you choose to send your child to school in June or not is your choice. This is an option that is being added to provide for the social/emotional needs of our students, and to enable parents to return to work.
A Summary from DPAC Executive
First they need to survey all families in the District to see how many students may be coming back. Then they need to figure out where they will be put in the school if some classrooms have reached their densities before others. Partner groups will be consulted, and families will again be contacted to inform them of the plan. A plan needs to be submitted to the Ministry by the end of Monday May 25th. The Health and Safety Committee also needs to meet and review their procedures in light of the new numbers. So the District has their work cut out for them, hence the URGENT email survey you may be receiving from your child’s teachers this morning.
To summarize:
-Essential Service Workers (ESW) category has now been expanded to include teachers; therefore, their kids will be eligible to return to school 5 days a week.
-This day will no longer be a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. day for ESWs children, but a normal school day.
-All non-ESW families in the District are now able to send their children to school starting June 1st as follows: K-5 for 2 to 3 days a week, full days. 6-12 one full day a week.
-Families are receiving communications (phone calls, emails) from their schools starting today and the District needs that info back ASAP to begin their planning.
-Once the District has numbers, they will formulate a plan. No one will be refused within the parameters set out above (2-3 full days/week , 1 full day a week).
-School meals programs will continue as they are.
-The last day for all schools will be June 25th. There are no plans to extend the school year.
-If parents change their minds about their survey answers, they should call their school’s admin and have that conversation.
-Remote learning resources (online learning) will still be available for families who chose not to send their children back to school this school year, although they may not be as robust as before due to the presence of students in the classroom as well.