Public schools seeing high level of absences

By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 22, 2022.

reporter@medicinehatnews.com

Five schools in the Medicine Hat Public School Division are reporting greater than 10% absence rates – George Davison, Medicine Hat Christian, Ross Glen, Southview Community and Vincent Massey. The division is working with Alberta Health Services to get letters out.

All students had a midterm break during the week of Nov. 7 and when they returned to school on Nov. 14 absences were low but have continued to climb steadily since.

“All of our schools are experiencing higher than usual absences among students and to a lesser extent among staff,” said Davidson. “Five of our schools are at or very close to that 10% or above. Alberta Health Services is informing us which schools they are shifting to outbreak and they are providing communication advice to families on how to proceed.”

The advice of AHS is followed with respect to enhanced cleaning practices and other safety measures within the schools, otherwise not much else will change at this point. The schools don’t track specific illnesses, but it is known that most are affected by respiratory illnesses. The data on which of the various illnesses account for the absences is not available.

AHS declares the outbreak and provides the letters to be sent out to the schools affected. However, Davidson mentioned a general communication about a rise in respiratory illness along with some general advice from AHS would likely be distributed to the entire division.

“We are keeping an eye on the situation and hoping that things improve and our absence levels among students and staff starts to decline,” stated Davidson.

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