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Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools students returned to class on Monday, June 1 for the first time since mid-March.
BACK IN CLASS

Around one third of Nanaimo-Ladysmith students return after long COVID-19 hiatus

Jun 6, 2020 | 7:50 AM

NANAIMO — A sizeable number of local school students returned to classrooms in Nanaimo and Ladysmith during the first week of in-class education.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools reported around 40 per cent of elementary school students attended the first week, while 34-37 per cent of grade 11 and 12 students showed up for their designated day.

Laura Tait, assistant superintendent for Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools, said numbers varied wildly from school to school following the lengthy two-and-a-half month layoff.

“Like in the real world outside of our school system, there’s some anxiety. We’re learning, we’re trying to figure things out as are all of our staff,” Tait said.

Data from the return of students in grades 8, 9 and 10 who attended later in the week was not immediately available.

“Across the board almost without exception, students are so happy to be at school. They’re attending for many reasons but they’re so excited to see their teachers, the school staff, they’ve been missing their friends so it’s nice to have that social aspect at least for a couple of days,” Tait said.

Schools re-opened under the guidance from the province on Monday, June 1, as a further step in B.C.’s restart plan.

NLPS numbers reflected those from around the province after the first couple of days, with education minister Rob Fleming reporting one in three students had returned across the province on Tuesday, June 2.

Denise Wood, president of the Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association told NanaimoNewsNOW the return to school has been challenging as it works against key pillars of fighting COVID-19 such as physical distancing and small social bubbles.

“We’re still trying to stay physically distant in the school setting but it’s very difficult especially with smaller children. Now we’re in a larger group setting and teacher’s bubbles have expanded signficantly this week,” Wood said.

She said the in-class sessions now are very much a test run for what to expect in September when its hoped full-time schooling can resume.

Wood added the focus now is on slowly returning to normal, not hitting all the milestones like exams and final projects that students would usually be doing in June.

“What it takes to complete grade 4, grade 5, that’s a construct we can adjust as we need to. Teachers all over the world will have students back next year that were not in school for several months this year and that’s what we’ll be dealing with,” Wood said.

NLPS said 374 children of essential workers applied to attend school five days per week. As of Wednesday, June 3, 303 had attended.

The school district has approximately 15,000 students registered in 36 schools between Ladysmith and Lantzville.

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