When it comes to COVID-19, Living Sky School Division has been fortunate compared to a number of other school divisions elsewhere.
While case numbers have been rising in the division’s coverage area in the past several days, so far the division itself has seen only one confirmed case at one of their schools, at Cando.
“So far, so good,” was how director of education Brenda Vickers described the situation when speaking to reporters on Wednesday.
Regarding the Cando case, which happened in mid-October, Vickers was happy with the prompt response.
“Hats off to the team at that school, they had all their protocols in place,” said Vickers. “The feedback from Health was that it was very easy to do the contact tracing. They could determine very quickly there was no spread, so the school is functioning as normal now.”
The rising case counts in the region remain something the division is concerned about, and they will keep an eye on the situation as it unfolds.
Vickers said the division is going to “stay very careful” and “keep our tight protocols in place, especially for the next few weeks, because I think there is some indication it could get worse provincially.”
Vickers reminded everyone to be careful, because the school is a reflection of the community. “If we all do our part, we’ll be able to keep schools open and keep kids safe.”
So far schools are back open and extracurriculars are back on a limited basis and in a modified way. Sports competition can be organized within the schools but direct school-to-school competition is not permitted.
Halloween will also look very different in the school division as well. “It won’t be the typical party,” said Vickers. While she wasn’t sure what every school was doing for Halloween, “I am sure that whatever they are doing they’re going to be keeping those protocols top of mind.
Vickers emphasizes that everything they are doing is designed to keep students and staff as safe as possible, with a “safety first” goal.
“We’re not doing it for no reason,” said Vickers of the changes. “We all understand the ‘why’ of what we’re doing.”
Vickers said they have meetings with their local medical health officer every Tuesday and Friday to discuss all the issues. “I’d rather be cautious and safe than jump too quickly,” said Vickers.
There are still some areas of concern. At the previous meeting there had been discussion about what happens when kids are outside of school during breaks and after school, with worries about them congregating together and not following the distancing and mask protocols.
Vickers acknowledged it was a challenge.
“We can control everything within the school, and that, I guess, has been my main concern is that I want to let people know that we can do everything we can to follow the recommendations from Public Health and keep kids safe. Once they’re out of the school — the school can’t control everything,” she said.
As for messaging, they are reminding kids in class and sending messaging to parents as well about the need to be careful.
“We remind them that we are still in a pandemic and we have to be thinking of others and our own safety and so we can certainly educate them and keep the conversation going. But we can’t control everything necessarily.”
