School divisions honing plans for the fall

By LAUREN THOMSON Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 14, 2021.

lthomson@medicinehatnews.com

Alberta public health measures are now extended until Sept. 27, while back-to-school guidelines won’t require in-class masks, though some school boards may still be recommended them, Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced Friday morning.

Medicine Hat School Boards have a busy couple of weeks ahead as they review provincial guideline documents and move forward with plans to start the school year.

Hinshaw stated that only half of youth aged 12-17 have been vaccinated, and continued to urge Albertans to complete their vaccinations, especially before school begins.

Medicine Hat Public School Division released a back-to-school letter Aug. 12, outlining expectations for the coming year. It states “masking will be mandatory for all staff and students (K-12) in commons areas and when moving about the classroom.”

K-3s were not required to mask at all during the 2020-21 school year.

“Without having had detailed communication from the government about what the changes announced on July 29 might mean in schools, we started taking a look at what the local data told us was happening in terms of COVID,” said Mark Davidson, MHPSD superintendent.

“We examined what we heard from Alberta Health and Health Canada regarding the ease of transmission of the Delta variant, the information about it potentially having a greater possibility of harming children, and what we have been told by Dr. Hinshaw about the effectiveness of masks, and arrived at the decision that this was certainly a prudent direction to identify until we had further direction from the government.”

Despite the mask mandate, Davidson thinks this year will feel a lot more normal than last and “as the year progresses and vaccinations rates rise and our local numbers improve we will be able to use that autonomy given us in order to shift expectations in schools.”

MHPSD also announced all performance based activities and sporting events will proceed, however much like last year, students and staff are asked to self-screen and stay home if they test positive or are presenting any COVID-19 symptoms.

Roger Clarke, retiring superintendent of the Prairie Rose Public School, made a statement by email.

“We will be carefully reviewing the new guidance documents and recommendations from the Chief Medical Office of Health and Alberta Education over the next few days. Just as we did over the past year, our priority is student safety and we will continue to take direction and work in collaboration with AHS regarding health protocols and measures. Parents can expect more information from Prairie Rose regarding back to school for the fall in the next week.”

Dwayne Zarichny, Medicine Hat Catholic School Board superintendent, said through email they are looking forward to a near normal return to school this year.

“Staff and student safety and well being continues to be our priority as we prepare for the new school year. As we have done throughout the pandemic, Medicine Hat Catholic will continue to follow recommendations from the Government of Alberta and health officials. More information regarding back to school health and safety best practices can be found on our division website.”

Davidson hopes everyone can be respectful of decisions.

“What we ask of everyone, and what we hope they understand, is that we’re doing our best to make decisions that first, protect people. Our best way to do that, historically, has been to lean on the advice and wisdom of public health officials who understand our local context and of the science.”

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