Coast Mountains School District 82, Northern Health, and the District Parent Advisory Council held a virtual Q&A session Thursday evening (Sept. 3) to answer questions from parents and community members about the School District’s Stage 2 Education Re-Start Plan for the 2020-21 school year.
The session included Superintendent of Schools for School District 82 (SD82), Janet Meyer; Shar McCrory, the Board of Education Chair and a Hazelton school trustee; Rachael Pozzo, the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) secretary; Dr. Rakel Kling, a Medical Health Offficer for Northern Health; Dr. Raina Fumerton, the Northwest Medical Health Officer and acting Northeast Medical Health Officer; Ali Moore, an Environmental Health Team Lead at Northern Health; as well as the school trustees representing Terrace, Kitimat, Thornhill, and Stewart.
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Meyer and the Northern Health representatives took the evening to answer questions sent in by parents and community members, as well as questions posed in the live chat on YouTube during the session.
“Our goal is to have as many students attending full-time as possible, as soon as it is appropriate for them to do so for their families, based on their own, unique circumstance,” Meyer said. “We want you to know that the safety of our students and staff is our number one concern. We want you to know that we created a District plan based on the parameters provided by the Provincial Health Officer and the Ministry of Education.”
Meyer, SD82 members, and the Northern Health team answered questions such as, will kids have a space in in-person classes if they choose distributed learning first, then want to switch? (To which Meyer replied that there is a chance there may be space, but there is no guarantee of that, as students can only be registered in one institution or form of learning at a time, and space is designated that way)
Another parent asked about students who get sick often or have a pre-medical condition, like common ear infections, and if can they come back once cleared by doctor? Dr. Kling responded that it’s not mandatory, but may be helpful to get a note from the child’s medical professional in advance, documenting their usual condition and any symptoms, so teachers and others know in advance. However, if any new symptoms that aren’t documented appear, the child will be asked to stay home and get tested, or stay home and isolate for 10 days if they don’t get tested.
There was not enough time to get through all the questions in the session, so Meyer said they will be answering questions as best as they can and posting a Q&A document to the SD82 website with the answers in the coming week.
To watch the recorded Q&A session visit the SD82 YouTube channel or their website. They are also encouraging parents and community members to contact them with any other questions going forward, sending an email to covid@cmsd.bc.ca, or by emailing or calling your school’s principal.
clare.rayment@northernsentinel.com
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