Grades 7 – 12 moving to at-home learning beginning next week
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman For the Lethbridge Herald on May 1, 2021.
As announced by Premier Jason Kenney on Thursday, stronger measures for targeted regions in the province that have high levels of active cases were set in place.Lethbridge is one of those targeted regions with respect to education and operations of schools. Students in the Lethbridge School Division from Grade 7 to 12 will switch to at-home learning starting on Monday.
The situation will be re-evaluated by Alberta Health Services and Alberta Education as the two-week period comes to a close.
During a press conference on Friday, Lethbridge School Division Superintendent Cheryl Gilmore announced that May 3 will be used for preparation to move to full online delivery. Full delivery of online learning for those grades will start on Tuesday, May 4.
With regard to the schools in the division that have combined grades, students will still be able to attend in-person learning up to Grade 6.
“Our Grade 6 students, as they have once in the past, get to have the great privilege of being the only students in the school within our middle schools like Senator Joyce Fairbairn Middle School, Wilson Middle School and G.S. Lakie,” said Gilmore.
Gilmore has received feedback from parents and students since the announcement. Many are frustrated and disappointed, while others are simply sad that they can’t be at school in person.
Gilmore indicated the Lethbridge School Division Board and staff recognize that movement to a different delivery system is challenging and appreciate that it poses challenges for families and students. It is the goal of the schools to maintain contact and support so that students do not feel disconnected.
“We respect any strategies that come our way, or protocols from health officials that come our way. We respect that we’re not the health experts, we leave that to the province and then we do our best to serve the needs of our students as best we can given the situation,” added Gilmore.
As of April 27, Lethbridge School Division has five schools with Covid-19 outbreaks where there are 10 or more active cases per school. The schools are Wilson Middle School, G.S. Lakie Middle School, Winston Churchill High School, Galbraith School and Chinook High School.
They also have one school under alert, with two to four cases of Covid-19, at Senator Buchanan Elementary School. 2
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