School District No.46 (SD46) finally has a strong sense of how the school year will look after months of uncertainty.
Results from a survey issued last week show 79 per cent of families are planning to enrol their children full time and in-person at the start of the school year next week.
Superintendent Patrick Bocking shared with Coast Reporter the survey results, which asked parents which of the four available program options they preferred.
On top of the 79 per cent who plan to send their children for full-time in-class instruction, 16 per cent of respondents indicated they preferred the “transition phase,” which permits students to take an initial extended absence from school, with limited learning materials provided, until they’re ready to return to full-time in-class instruction.
“It looks like 95 per cent of our families intend to return to in-class instruction when you add the two together,” Bocking said.
Five per cent chose another new option, “Sunshine Coast Online” – a distance-learning program to allow students to learn from home, and separate from the district’s other alternative and distributed learning programs, such as SPIDER.
Only 0.3 per cent of families have opted for the fourth option, homeschooling, which Bocking said was in line with normal rates.
Just under two-thirds of families responded to the survey, representing 2,003 students. There are about 3,500 students enrolled at SD46.
“We’re very pleased that parents are understanding that schools will be safe for their children,” said Bocking, who also acknowledged prior to survey results it hadn’t been obvious which options would be most popular, since concerns have been expressed to the district and on social media. “It also doesn’t mean that people who are enrolling their children don’t have some concerns. They might. Of course we’re going to provide that safe and healthy learning environment and follow all of the protocols,” he said.
Other concerns were brought directly to SD46 trustees, who put those questions to district staff at a special board meeting on Aug. 26.
Trustee Stacia Leech asked for details about how plans evolved over the last three months, and who provided input. Bocking said “extensive” meetings between stakeholder groups were held throughout summer to consider education plans, including with unions, parent groups, trustee groups, and administrative staff associations.
Trustee Samantha Haines asked about on-call teachers and other staff that would normally rotate through different schools, referencing the decision by the province to halt a similar practice with workers who rotate between long-term care facilities.
Director of instruction Paul Bishop said according to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), since schools aren’t medical facilities like long-term care homes, staff moving between buildings will still be permitted as long as strict protocols for hygiene and physical distancing are in place, as well as methods to ensure contacts can be traced.
Incoming student trustee Abby Grunenberg peppered staff with questions about enforcement of mandatory mask policies for high school students (enforcement will be strict and non-negotiable), access to lockers (not likely), changes to bell schedules (still in the works) and sports (maybe within learning groups).
In a follow-up interview with Coast Reporter, Bocking said Chatelech Secondary School will remain on a semester system while Elphinstone Secondary School will operate on a quarterly system.
Pender Harbour Elementary/Secondary School, with approximately 70 students combined, will operate its courses as normal as one learning group.
Provincial guidelines state that learning groups for elementary school students should be limited to 60 students and 120 students at the high school level.
While details are still being ironed out, in the week before the start of a school year that won’t be like any other in recent memory, Bocking said the district is “confident” about its readiness, especially as it pertains to health and safety.
“We have hand sanitizer everywhere, we have masks that are just going out to schools right now,” he said. “We’re in a really good place.”
