Many parents are wondering what back to school is going to look like once September rolls around.
The fact of the matter is, school officials are wondering the same thing.
Lethbridge School Division Superintendent, Cheryl Gilmore was asked last week about the next school year. She says the situation is changing all the time, but she doesn’t expect things will be normal.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if it was back to regular programming,” says Gilmore. “That would be a little naive. It’s more likely we will see somewhat of a blended model where we have some restrictions still in place with respect to numbers of students and social distancing, things like that.”
Gilmore says she would like to see more information rolled out by the end of June so parents and staff have a heads up going into summer.
She says COVID-19 has changed a lot of things, noting principals in the public district are already tossing around some scenarios. “How many students would we be able to have in our schools on any given day and what that would mean for scheduling? What we’re calling a blended program. What will that look like for some in-school learning and some at-home learning”.
Gilmore says a blended model of some sort is most likely right now.
The Alberta government’s Stage 2 reopening includes schools with protocols in place. Gilmore says the province is working on a document that will help school jurisdictions understand what those protocols will be, so districts can then start to plan for what that will look like for families and students.
