(File photo/paNOW staff)

By Ian Gustafson

BACK TO SCHOOL

Students return to school from Christmas break after other provinces delay return to classrooms

Jan 5, 2022 | 8:00 AM

Children across the province returned to school this week after the Christmas break and with rising cases of the Omicron variant, school divisions are taking steps to ensure students safety.

Saskatchewan is one of the few provinces and territories that did not extend the holiday break in response to the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.

Director of Education for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division Robert Bratvold told paNOW in general the transmissibility of the variant is concerning for communities and the province but knows schools do amazing work in terms of COVID-19 protocols.

“And have been very successful in mitigating the risk of transmission so that’s reassuring in lots of ways,” he said. “I guess I would also say we do have rapid test kits and we encourage parents to make use of them as a screening tool to catch or prevent transmission before it might affect more people.”

Now, Bratvold said rapid test availability for their students is strong right now and have had some demand. He believes they can meet that demand in the short term as the province has committed to providing rapid tests to all schools.

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“If we need to access more rapid test kits from the province, we’ve got a process in place to do that,” he added.

In a letter to parents, staff and students Bratvold explained after collaboration with Medical Health officer Dr. Chokani the school division recommends everyone take rapid antigen tests daily or every second day before school starts and monitor for symptoms daily, and do not send students to school if they have symptoms.

They also recommend all students and staff who have been in contact with a positive case get a PCR test and continue to use all layers of protection.

“We know that the province is one of the few that did not delay a return to school and so that’s our reality and we do the best we can within that directive,” Bratvold said.

The Prince Albert Catholic School Division did not provide comment in time of publishing but according to its website, students will be returning to school on Jan. 5.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili and Education Critic Carla Beck called on the Saskatchewan Party to delay the return to school for one week and create a comprehensive Omicron strategy.

“It’s beyond comprehension that the premier refuses to learn from his fourth wave failures. He’s given up,” Meili said in a news release.

“Not only is he actively downplaying the real threat and endangering our health-care system by doing nothing but he’s also putting the safety of our kids at risk. Let me be clear — letting Omicron run wild in our schools will lead to our health-care system being overrun and lives being needlessly lost. Once again, this premier is choosing politics, not the health of the people he represents.”

Premier Scott Moe explained in a video on Twitter on Dec. 30 that we need to learn how to live with COVID-19.

“We can’t keep our kids out of school forever. We can’t lock down our communities and our community events and our businesses forever. We need to figure out how to use these tools effectively…it’s going to be present in our communities, but to keep it at a level where it doesn’t overwhelm our hospital system and where it ultimately allows us to live.”

–With files from 650 CKOM

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12