Measles immunization campaign
Students with incomplete vaccination records or who don’t have the proper dosage of the measles vaccine will be contacted by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) as part of a province-wide immunization campaign.
On April 15, the Sunshine Coast School District (SD46) circulated a letter from VCH announcing the launch of a province-wide measles immunization campaign for school-aged children that will run from April to June.
“We are working in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health to ensure that Measles immunizations are being offered to as many families as possible. This is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Health and Education that we are strongly supporting,” said SD46 Superintendent Patrick Bocking in his report to trustees at last Wednesday’s regular board meeting.
Vanessa White, student support services director at SD46, said the initiative isn’t new since VCH is “always trying to catch up and get as many people immunized as possible.”
Public health staff are also expected to attend KinderSPARK! sessions in April and May in Gibsons and Sechelt to provide information on immunization and other health matters to parents and guardians of incoming kindergarteners.
VCH data from the 2017/2018 school year shows immunization rates for kindergarten classes at Coast elementary schools ranged from 54.5 per cent to 96 per cent. According to VCH, the provincial average for vaccinated school-aged children is 83 per cent.
More information can be found at www.vch.ca/measlescampaign.
Adding new teachers in the field
More student teachers are expected in classrooms on the Sunshine Coast now that SD46 has been approached by the University of B.C. to become an official partner for its Community Field Experience (CFE) program.
UBC’s Teacher Education Program has worked with SD46 for the past four years, sending students who are close to completing their program to gain experience by teaching for two to three weeks at elementary and high schools on the Sunshine Coast.
“We’ve gotten a bit of a reputation,” said White. This year eight UBC students will be participating, with the first two students visiting Chatelech Secondary at the end of April.
SD46 administrator Paul Bishop said SD46 has been approached by “a number of universities from around the province to place students here on the Sunshine Coast.”
Dust collection
Funds have been issued to SD46 to cover the cost of upgrades to dust collection systems at Chatelech Secondary and Elphinstone Secondary.
The province has provided $300,000 for each upgrade and the work is expected to be completed by the end of March 2020.
