The St. Clair Catholic District School Board has released its return to school plan, although some details may change depending on future public health or provincial announcements.
Elementary and secondary school students will start school on September 7, whether they are participating in in-person or remote learning. Junior Kindergarten students enrolled in in-person learning will have a staggered start to the year with some attending school on September 8 and others on September 9.
Students will interact with their own cohort while indoors but can see children from other classrooms while outdoors.
High school students will have four courses each semester with two courses taught per day.
With remote learning, elementary school students will participate in teacher-led learning sessions and digital platform activities. Teachers involved in these sessions may not be from the child’s home school and virtual classrooms will include students from across the Catholic school board.
High school students enrolled in remote learning will have quadmesters, similar to last year. Students will have one course for one week and a second course the alternating week and will then switch to the next two courses after about nine weeks.
For those who will be at school, masks are required indoors and on the bus, with the exception of Kindergarten students.
Like last year, students and staff experiencing COVID-19 symptoms must stay home. Students who begin to present symptoms at school will be separated from their class until picked up by a parent or guardian.
Students will be allotted breaks throughout the day to regularly wash their hands. Students are also encouraged to bring their own food and water bottle, high school students will be allowed to leave the school grounds for lunch.
Ventilation systems have also been upgraded to include new HVAC systems in schools that had partial mechanical ventilation, portable air conditioners and HEPA filters have been installed in classrooms, and operable windows have been installed in rooms that didn't previously have them.
"St. Clair Catholic spent about $7 million in upgrades to improve the ventilation in schools right across our district," said Director of Education Deb Crawford.
In addition to planning for a safe start to the school year, Crawford said the school board is still in the process of data collection of immunizations.
"Between getting the schools ready and then working out some of the administrative pieces here for COVID, I think we're very busy but we're looking very forward to having our students back in the schools, our teachers back in the schools, and a wonderful, joyful start to the new [school] year," she said.
The full return to school plan can be found by clicking, here.
The public school board released its plan last week with very similar health and safety procedures. Director of Education John Howitt said ventilation details for each school will be posted to the school board's website in September for parents to view.