Back to School during the pandemic ...a discussion thread

[bankr63]

Exactly. This was what I found so difficult teaching special Ed years ago. Sixty kids on my case load, most who were years behind their peers. I was window dressing. A paper pusher. I didn’t have the time nor the resources to help sixty kids. Very frustrating.

DW is a Spec Ed Specialist and used to teach in a segregated setting a few years ago until SES's were removed. Since she teaches core, she has those same students along with her regular students. Hard to prepare appropriate material for kids who are operating at a grade 2-3 level at the same time that she challenges those kids that are operating at the grade 7 standard or above. I don't know how she manages it - well actually I do, very long hours at home doing unpaid planning - but it is a huge chore.

 

[wdwmom3]

I

View attachment 515968

I thought the nurses were more to help with education around protocols and helping make sure they are followed. Like wearing a mask properly etc. Someone for teachers or students to raise any concerns with or ask questions. Not monitoring the health of everyone.

If you have a nurse assigned to 10 schools they could go to each to school every week. They could do one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

 

[chirona]

It is a tough decision. I guess you want to value human life and love for your neighbor are two guiding principles that people can use in making their decisions. There are a lot of factors to consider. Parents that work, kids ability to adapt to an more isolated environment. Each person must weigh the factors carefully.

 

[Madame]

I had seen this https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-coronavirus-ontario-july-30-back-to-school-1.5668495

"According to Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, the government will hire as many as 500 additional public health nurses that will each be assigned to a "family of schools.""

That is a lot of new nurses to come up with. There are already a ton of requests for new nurses ... https://ca.indeed.com/School-Nurse-jobs-in-Ontario

I’ll see if I can dig up the article/interview I saw about the reassignment of nurses.

 

[Madame]

I’ll see if I can dig up the article/interview I saw about the reassignment of nurses.

It was stated during a pressser

This is what they are expected to do

And teachers were *very* upset at Yaffe or whatever her name is, indicated teachers would somehow be trained to do some type of Covid testing if permission was granted by parents.

 

[mshanson3121]

Read in a CBC article shared on another thread here:

Recommends masks for children over 10

Tam said one of the busiest areas of planning for officials is the reopening of schools in September, for which, she said, the Public Health Agency of Canada will be publishing detailed guidelines later this week.

The guidelines will include a recommendation that children over the age of 10 be required to wear masks, said Tam, in French. Extra consideration should be given for children under the age of 10, she said.


It blows my mind, that they have left this so late. I assumed this was already released since school boards have already been making their plans. So, basically, all the plans shared with parents thus far (and that we've all been discussing), will probably be moot. Prime example? Masks. Our province had no intention of making masks mandatory. However, based on this ^^ they will now have to go back and change that. Which, I 100% support, but, we all know that's going to go over like a lead balloon with many parents. It'll also be interesting to see what they recommend/require regarding physical distancing within the classroom. Many places are not planning to require any distancing under a certain age. Others are only requiring 1m. If they come out with a 2m requirement... oie. I have a feeling, it's going to be very interesting next week....

 

[hdrolfe]

Didn't Alberta already change their mind on masks? I thought they originally said no but now are matching Ontario with grade 4 through 12 needing them.

I'm not sure the Federal government has any jurisdiction over education, or provincial health regulations, isn't that why they haven't employed the Emergencies Act yet? Leaving it for provinces to handle? They can recommend things, but they can't require them. Every province has responded differently, yes there are the "social distancing" measures, wash your hands, stay a certain distance from others. But those are provincially set, the Feds just recommended stuff and control the borders. Masks too, she said they should be used well before provinces said anything, and those seem to come down to the cities in most places actually. Outside of schools the province (in Ontario at least) hasn't legislated masks indoors, though I guess Quebec has.

Someone else mentioned space, and having the ability to hire enough teachers. Even if they move to smaller classes and more space between desks, do very many schools have the space to do so? Can they find enough teachers to hire? What about subs? This coming year is going to be hectic, I think there will be a lot of decisions made on the fly as things go along. It is really frustrating. I like plans, knowing what will be happening. Yes, there is a certain amount of uncertainty in all of this, who knows when it will flare up again, but having an idea of what will happen in those situations would sure be nice! It is really hard to prepare my son for this without having any idea yet of what will actually be happening.

And I am still not sure when I will be required to go back to the office, but I can tell you I will fight on that until there is a vaccine. There is nothing I do there that I cannot do at home, that I haven't been doing at home. And then I can perhaps worry less about schools shutting down or moving all online again.

 

[wdwmom3]

Read in a CBC article shared on another thread here:

Recommends masks for children over 10

Tam said one of the busiest areas of planning for officials is the reopening of schools in September, for which, she said, the Public Health Agency of Canada will be publishing detailed guidelines later this week.

The guidelines will include a recommendation that children over the age of 10 be required to wear masks, said Tam, in French. Extra consideration should be given for children under the age of 10, she said.


It blows my mind, that they have left this so late. I assumed this was already released since school boards have already been making their plans. So, basically, all the plans shared with parents thus far (and that we've all been discussing), will probably be moot. Prime example? Masks. Our province had no intention of making masks mandatory. However, based on this ^^ they will now have to go back and change that. Which, I 100% support, but, we all know that's going to go over like a lead balloon with many parents. It'll also be interesting to see what they recommend/require regarding physical distancing within the classroom. Many places are not planning to require any distancing under a certain age. Others are only requiring 1m. If they come out with a 2m requirement... oie. I have a feeling, it's going to be very interesting next week....

I agree it’s late. But my guess, education falls under provincial jurisdiction. The feds likely stayed out of it letting the provinces make their plans. But once the plans were announced they felt they had to say something. The Provinces should have done this on their own. I’m glad ontario and Alberta did.

 

[mshanson3121]

Didn't Alberta already change their mind on masks? I thought they originally said no but now are matching Ontario with grade 4 through 12 needing them.

I'm not sure the Federal government has any jurisdiction over education, or provincial health regulations, isn't that why they haven't employed the Emergencies Act yet? Leaving it for provinces to handle? They can recommend things, but they can't require them.

No idea, we're in NB.

From what I understand, the legal enforcement comes through the provincial department of health, but their recommendations/requirements come from the federal department. So, if the federal department says "this is the recommendation for the bare minimum", then the provincial departments job is to enforce that. So, yes, if they say masks for ages 10+, then, it will be masks for ages 10+, enforced through each province and/or municipality. That said, the provincial departments can choose to go above and beyond federal recommendations, but my understanding is they're not supposed to go lower.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Well, NS is always behind the times. Our BTS plan is soooo vague and not well thought out.

High schoolers and teachers are the only ones needing to wear masks and it's only in the hallways, etc. Not in the classroom.

Elementary and Jr High/Middle School are exempt from masks, which blows my mind.

I honestly think they ALL should be wearing masks, even in the classroom.

 

[isabellea]

Masks are now mandatory in all public buildings for 12yo and older in QC (for the whole province, even in regions that had very low numbers of cases or no cases at all). Since this mandate/law has passed, I noticed that even young kids wear one. My kids are both younger than 12yo but they know I expect them to wear one the rare times we go somewhere indoor with them. I’m expecting to wear masks for a very long time so I am slowly building my collection. I just bought one with flamingos wearing Santa hats for the Holidays. I wear 2-3 different masks everyday at work so I like fun ones.

 

[wdwmom3]

Masks are now mandatory in all public buildings for 12yo and older in QC (for the whole province, even in regions that had very low numbers of cases or no cases at all). Since this mandate/law has passed, I noticed that even young kids wear one. My kids are both younger than 12yo but they know I expect them to wear one the rare times we go somewhere indoor with them. I’m expecting to wear masks for a very long time so I am slowly building my collection. I just bought one with flamingos wearing Santa hats for the Holidays. I wear 2-3 different masks everyday at work so I like fun ones.

My daughter is hoping she will get to wear festive masks at work lol.

 

[bankr63]

Masks are now mandatory in all public buildings for 12yo and older in QC (for the whole province, even in regions that had very low numbers of cases or no cases at all). Since this mandate/law has passed, I noticed that even young kids wear one. My kids are both younger than 12yo but they know I expect them to wear one the rare times we go somewhere indoor with them. I’m expecting to wear masks for a very long time so I am slowly building my collection. I just bought one with flamingos wearing Santa hats for the Holidays. I wear 2-3 different masks everyday at work so I like fun ones.

^^ This is DW (mostly) too!
We are building quite a collection of masks in all kinds of fancy patterns. She is still searching for the perfect mask since she will be wearing one all day once school starts. Most are uncomfortable and ill fitting, they tend to ride up or down if you are talking a lot (teacher), causing you to actually touch your face more. Although it may all be moot now as I read that teachers will be required to wear medical grade masks that will be supplied for them.

I do think that masks may become the new fashion statement. We love to camp and I have a few with camping or camper themes. And I love my Canadian Flag mask. Nothing more obvious than wearing you life passions on your face. I guess that means I need to find some masks with my alter ego Goofy on them...

 

[Donald - my hero]

I don't want to be accused of making light of this situation but i also really wanted to share this article a little bit of humour can lighten our hearts for a brief moment (i hope)
Planning to Teach using Disney GIFs

 

[mshanson3121]

So the government (NB) announced today that they will be updating twice a week starting Aug 13th and concluding SEPT 3 (!!!) re: their plans for back to school. Topics will include use of masks, extra curriculars, how learning will be approached, bussing etc...

So the meetings conclude September 3, and school is supposed to start Sept 8. That is completely unacceptable. I feel so sorry for all the parents who are just waiting for information, so they can decide if their child is going back to school, staying home, so they can make arrangements at work etc... This truly feels as though they are honestly hoping as many people as possible will just get fed up with waiting, and pull their kids from school.

 

[isabellea]

^^ This is DW (mostly) too!
We are building quite a collection of masks in all kinds of fancy patterns. She is still searching for the perfect mask since she will be wearing one all day once school starts. Most are uncomfortable and ill fitting, they tend to ride up or down if you are talking a lot (teacher), causing you to actually touch your face more. Although it may all be moot now as I read that teachers will be required to wear medical grade masks that will be supplied for them.

I do think that masks may become the new fashion statement. We love to camp and I have a few with camping or camper themes. And I love my Canadian Flag mask. Nothing more obvious than wearing you life passions on your face. I guess that means I need to find some masks with my alter ego Goofy on them...

I had to try 5 different mask styles before I found one that fitted me perfectly. I LOVE the masks from Le Grenier de Lexi on FB. So far, everybody I referred to her are very happy with how the masks fit. My daughter even do tumbling with them and they stay in place (I bought her a 5-10 yr and adjusted the elastics for a perfect fit). Her page is in French but she's anglophone so wouldn't have any issue answering in English.

For my kids:

For me:


I posted a photo on the mask thread on how they compare to a medical-grade procedure mask when opened.

 

[pigletto]

So the government (NB) announced today that they will be updating twice a week starting Aug 13th and concluding SEPT 3 (!!!) re: their plans for back to school. Topics will include use of masks, extra curriculars, how learning will be approached, bussing etc...

So the meetings conclude September 3, and school is supposed to start Sept 8. That is completely unacceptable. I feel so sorry for all the parents who are just waiting for information, so they can decide if their child is going back to school, staying home, so they can make arrangements at work etc... This truly feels as though they are honestly hoping as many people as possible will just get fed up with waiting, and pull their kids from school.

I wondered what the timeline is in other places and boards. In Niagara, Ontario we really haven’t heard anything other than the provincial announcements last week. It’s cutting it close to get any sort of accurate numbers. Most of us can’t make decisions without facts and the silence is frustrating. I think I want to just see the plan, decide once and for all, and put it to rest.

 

[CanadianKrista]

I'm seriously stressing about the timelines. Our daycare sent an email yesterday saying we have to let them know by Aug 20 if we still want our spot or we forfeit it. I have no idea if we want our spot until we understand what is happening with buses - we are only at the school we are at because it buses from our daycare. My DD is old enough now that daycare probably isn't really required, but we are still there because it's how she gets to school and back. I'm not sure we are going to have any idea what the bussing plan is by Aug 20, let alone whether I'm comfortable with that plan or would be driving her to school regardless. And DS is now off to another school, which does bus to our home, but again, no idea if I want him on the bus. The school start times are an hour apart, so driving them both to school and picking them up is problematic, but putting them on packed buses is not okay. The bus from the daycare has been known to have 3 kids per seat in the past!

 

[hdrolfe]

@CanadianKrista that sucks, what a hard decision! On top of the "regular" covid choices can you have both kids at the same school?

I pulled my son from daycare right around March break, not for Covid reasons. He hated going so since he is 10, I gave him the choice to get himself to/from every day. I leave for work before he leaves for school. Now, I'm WFH so it doesn't matter, except he'll want me to drive him. We are too close for busing. I guess we are luck in that sense though, if he went to a different school he'd have to bus and I am not sure how I feel about that.

 

[CanadianKrista]

I can't have them at the same school - DS is going to Grade 7, which is a different school (and don't get me started on the fact that I have no idea if his grade 7 will look more like the grade 6 plan or high school plan, since 7 and 8 in this school are in the same school as 9-12 - I seriously have no clue which plan we'd be following for him). We knew when we went to the elementary school we did we'd be committed to daycare until they finished grade 6. DD is going to grade 5 this year, so we should be there 2 more years, but if there are no buses, we'd be paying over $400/month for well, nothing. But if we give up our spot, we have to drive her to/from school for the next two years, which doesn't really work for our jobs. Bah.