Students spending a week online before returning to in-class learning

Photo Ed Halverson

Christmas holidays are over for students across Nova Scotia as they return to online classes Monday.

The measures will last a week, giving schools and public health officials time to prepare the buildings, students, and staff for a safe return during the omicron outbreak.

Regional Director at South Shore Regional Centre for Education Paul Ash says the move to online learning will be very familiar to the school community.

“This isn’t new territory for us. We’ve learned a lot over the last two years in terms of online learning and other ways of engaging our students when they’re not in classrooms,” said Ash. “Obviously, we still believe that schools are safe and they’re the best place for our students to be.”

Getting fresh air into classrooms in some schools across the province has been a struggle.

Some buildings do not have mechanical ventilation systems and must rely on natural ventilation, in other words, opening a window.

North Queens Community School in Caledonia is one of eight schools across the region which will install HEPA filters to improve the air quality.

The province has also said 3-ply masks will be made available to students upon their return to in-class learning.

Ash says students and staff in this region have always had access to three-ply masks.

“Those are the masks that are available to our students in our schools right now. At the outset [we] made sure we had more than enough masks available. We have masks available, and they continue to be available to any students and staff that would like those,” said Ash.

SSRCE Executive Director Paul Ash. Photo Ed Halverson

The province also announced test kits will be distributed to schools once they’ve been received from the federal government.

Parents have raised concerns about communication from the schools, in particular, how they will be notified if a classmate has contracted COVID.

Ash says schools will follow the lead of public health regarding how and when those notifications will be made.

“So, we’re part of a mechanism. We don’t make those decisions and I’d be a little concerned being the person to say this is what I think they should do when really, they’ve done such a great job,” said Ash. “Our role is to implement the directives, not actually to create those. So, we’re part of those conversations but at the end of the day, we take the advice of public health and implement as directed.”

He says discussions will take place with public health over the next week so students, staff and parents will know exactly how they are to be notified of COVID cases in schools.

Ash praised families and staff for their hard work and sacrifice to keep COVID cases in regional schools low since the start of the pandemic.

“I do want to thank members of the community in South Shore for their fantastic work over the last couple of years that has allowed us to continue to work with our students in such a positive way.”

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