Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools students returned to class on Monday, June 1 for the first time since mid-March. (SD68)

By Alex Rawnsley

SCHOOLS BACK

‘When we can be in schools, we should be in schools:’ SD68 re-opens to students

Jun 2, 2020 | 5:26 AM

NANAIMO — Class is back in session for students in Nanaimo and Ladysmith as the province takes another step forward in its restart plan.

Grade 12 students were first in class on Monday, June 1 with the remaining high school grades to attend one day a week. Kindergarten to Grade 5 students were welcomed back beginning Tuesday, June 2.

Superintendent Scott Saywell told NanaimoNewsNOW returning to in-class education on a part-time basis is the next logical step for schools during the pandemic.

“This is a good run for what’s going to come in September,” Saywell said. “The key is it’s really safe. When we can be in schools, we should be in schools.”

To facilitate a return, school district staff beefed up physical distancing and sanitization measures, will limit students in common areas and try to keep students outside as much as possible.

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Saywell added COVID-19 numbers remaining flat in the Island Health region for over three weeks was a key indicator in calculating the risk of returning to the classroom.

SD68 is taking advice and direction from the provincial government and health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on how and when it can expand education.

Tailored local oversight is also present through Island Health on a daily basis to identify and react quickly if small clusters of confirmed cases arise.

“We would find out from our local medical health officer where there is a cluster of positive cases and then that medical health officer would make recommendations of how we would go forward,” Saywell said.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools recently surveyed parents on whether on not they would send their kids back should schools reopen.

Saywell said there was roughly a 50-50 split among respondents, although at the time of the survey the full details of the district’s safety plan had not been announced.

“Lots of parents had questions about what it would look like, how the physical distancing would work but there were kind of two camps,” Saywell said. “I do appreciate the fear and anxiety in the community to send their children back.”

Playgrounds belonging to the school district were also re-opened on Monday, the first jurisdiction in the region to do so. Playgrounds owned by the City of Nanaimo and RDN open on Wednesday, June 3.

Saywell said outside of a few isolated incidents, the yellow tape wrapped around jungle gyms remained untouched.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley