(file photo/CJME News Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

back to school

Sask. Rivers schools see big surge in distance learning

Sep 23, 2020 | 5:31 PM

The equivalent of building a whole new school is how the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division is characterizing the popularity of its distance learning option amid the COVID pandemic.

Director of Education Robert Bratvold said 600 students have enrolled and teachers, support staff, and administration have made an extraordinary effort to get the educational offering off the ground in such a short time.

“We’ve had some work to do to catch up to that number in terms of hiring and transferring staff to our distance learning centre, but they’re doing amazing work, essentially building a school of 600 kids in a matter of days and weeks,” Bratvold told paNOW.

Not everyone ready for classroom

He said a number of students who have taken the distance learning option would return to the classroom when their families felt more comfortable about things.

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“It will take some time. There are people who will just need to see over a time period that schools are safe. I think we’ve demonstrated that in the last couple of weeks, [but] some parents will take a little longer to see that,” he said.

Bratvold is also echoing the sentiments already voiced by some students to paNOW who are attending school and are impressed with the protocols in place and the diligence being shown by their classmates regarding hand-sanitizing and the wearing of face masks.

“The message we heard from some high school students is ‘we want to be at school, so we are willing to do this – even though it’s different and uncomfortable sometimes. But we want to keep coming to school so we don’t have to shut down like we did last year.’”

While the vast majority of students are in school or with the distance learning program, Bratvold said the number of unexplained absentees — many of which include kids yet to return from northern communities — continued to be an area of concern.

“Some schools would have probably dozens of families whom we have not contacted with yet. Teachers are reaching out, our school mentors are reaching out, we have support staff who are reaching out,” he explained.

Sickness protocol

Bratvold reiterated the protocols should a child become sick at school including contacting their parents or guardian right away to take them home. No one else is contacted.

“I say that because I want to make sure it’s clear in people’s mind, we have really caring and safe protocols at school, and we rely on the family to play that supportive role when a child is sick,” he said.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow