Schools within the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District are expected to be fairly full when school resumes. (pixabay)

By Spencer Sterritt

back to school

Majority of Nanaimo-Ladysmith families sending kids back to school, transition plan created for those unsure

Sep 4, 2020 | 5:32 AM

NANAIMO — Attendance is expected to be high at Nanaimo and Ladysmith schools when students return next week.

A survey from the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District showed 83 per cent of parents said they’ll return their children to school.

Dale Burgos, executive director of communications with the school district, said a transition plan is being implemented for the roughly 1,000 families who are “unsure about their choice and also feeling like they or their child is anxious to return to school.”

The plan is expected to be in place around Sept. 21.

“It’s going to give families time to transition back into the school for in-class learning. It’s also going to give those kindergarten to grade 9 families the option of still learning from home…before they come back to school full time.”

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Families unsure about their education plans have until Friday, Nov. 6 to decide.

“During that time, if the student or family is comfortable with coming back to the school full-time they can come at anytime. However, by the time we hit Nov. 6 we do want to get the final decision from the families whether it’s going to be in-class, distributed learning or home schooling.”

How the transition plan is staffed and what the curriculum will offer for the first few months of school is still unknown.

Burgos said the return to school survey received over 12,000 responses, the most ever for a school district survey.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry unveiled new COVID-19 modelling on Thursday, specifically discussing the return to schools and community transmission.

She said Island Health recorded the lowest COVID-19 infection rate.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt