Posted by admin  |  August 21, 2020

Hi Everybody,

 

Here is a preliminary look at what September will look like for us.  Our detailed Restart Plan was sent to the Superintendent's office today, which will then be sent to the Ministry of Education for approval.

 

Once we get approval for it, I will email it to you and it will be posted on the website under the COVID-19 tab.  In the meantime, here are a few things we know for sure.

 

1. The students will begin on either September 10 or 11 for Orientation.

          - Grades 8 and 9 in on Thursday September 10

          - Grades 10, 11 and 12 in on Friday September 11

The Orientation days will be very important as things will be very different this year. The students will be divided into Learning Groups or Cohorts.  These cohorts will have separate entrances into and out of the building, have only certain classrooms they will be permitted in, their teachers will come to the cohort areas to teach, in addition to many other changes.  These changes are necessitated by the COVID-19 parameters set up by the Ministry of Education and are put in place to help ensure your child's safety.

 

2. All students will be starting regular classes on Monday September 14.  We will move from a linear system to a semester system this year.  This will reduce the teacher cohort contacts by 50%.

 

3. All staff and students will be provided with 2 reusable cloth masks at no charge.  All students and staff will be required to wear masks in public areas such as hallways.

 

4. Students will not be issued lockers so backpacks will be a must.  The students will have half the number of classes so will not have to carry all of their books at one time.  This policy might change as the year goes on.

 

5. The cafeteria will be open, but without self service options.  In an attempt to reduce crowding at lunch time, the grades 8 and 9 cohorts will be separated from the grades 10, 11 and 12 cohorts by having separate lunch times.

 

6. This year we will require each student to have their own portable computer with a keyboard. If this cost is prohibitive for you, we have used Chromebook computers at a very competitive price. This will allow easy transition should we have to shift to remote class delivery for a time this year.

 

I anticipate sending out more detailed plans by next Wednesday once I get approval from the Ministry of Education.

 

John

 

PS. If a fellow parent does not get this email, please let the office know.