Medicine Hat's charter school, CAPE, is set to reopen Aug. 31. It will be following the same rules and regulations as other schools in the area. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Medicine Hat’s charter school is ready for classes to be back on Aug. 31.
CAPE School superintendent Teresa Di Ninno says the school will be following all of the same guidelines as other schools.
“One of the biggest things for us was replacing all of our HVAC. It died at the end of June and when we get this up and running, the air circulation will be really good,” she said. “Another big thing for us is cleaning during the weekends and mid-week. We will have additional cleaning during the day and we will have sanitizer available all over the school for everyone.
“We will also have markings on the floor with directional arrows to assist with maintaining distance.
“We have also removed soft surfaces like sofas, chairs and carpets.”
Another big part of CAPE’s return plan is mandatory masks for everyone.
“Masks will be mandatory in the building for everyone all the time,” she said. “All students from kindergarten through Grade 9 will be wearing masks, and every adult in the building will be as well.”
Di Ninno says wind instruments will be avoided during any musical learning. Percussion instruments will be the focus this year.
For physical education, equipment will be heavily sanitized between uses. Outdoor activities will be prioritized over indoor ones when possible.
The school will be creating cohorts of students, which means cross-grade learning will not happen at the school this year.
“There will be no mixing of two or three classes this year,” said Di Ninno. “Each group will stay together the entire day.”
CAPE is expecting around 270 students this school year, an increase of 20 from last year.
“The student-to-teacher rate is very low,” said Di Ninno. “It can be as low as nine to one if you include educational assistants.”
There will also be a small group doing online learning through the school. Classes will be streamed on Zoom and recorded for students to watch when they can.
