Several Yellowknife families plan to keep their children at home after schools reopened this week over anxieties about further spread of COVID-19.
All Yellowknife schools except for N.J. Macpherson welcomed back students for in-person learning on May 17, following the COVID-19 outbreak at the Range Lake Road school that led to the closure of all schools and spread to include 69 cases.
RELATED REPORTING: Four new COVID-19 cases in Yellowknife
N.J. Macpherson pushed its opening back to May 19 to allow for more preparation for students and teachers.
RELATED REPORTING: Reopening of NJ Macpherson’s in-person learning delayed to May 19
Parents unsure about safety
But some parents of students who attend Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (YK1) schools won’t send their children back to school for at least one week, said parents who spoke on condition of anonymity.
One woman said she plans to keep her two children at home for the rest of the school year, though she might re-assess that decision in two weeks.
“I have nothing against the schools and they’re doing all the health protocols correctly. But I have asthma, I’m immunocompromised and I don’t feel safe putting my kids out there and then possibly them bringing COVID-19 home,” she said.
The mother said her children will continue with remote learning for the remaining weeks of the school term.
She said the principal at their school indicated online learning would continue to be an option, even though the woman knows it could be harder for the teachers to manage.
“It might be a little trickier for the teachers. They might load up the lessons on a Sunday for the entire week. They already have the processes of online learning in place from last year.”
For the students who do return to school, she said she hopes that parents speak with their children about being kind to others so that there is no bullying of kids who had COVID-19.
Another parent in Yellowknife will her keep her son at home for one more week.
“It doesn’t help that he has a cold right now. (Schools) are kind of strict on the symptoms,” she said.
“We’re doing it just for safety reasons and just to analyze the safety situation after one week. Just to see about the (COVID-19) cases. If my kid was older then I would’ve definitely brought him back to school. It’s just the fact that he’s in kindergarten and he didn’t really have to do online learning.”
Another parent with two children who attend different schools plans to keep her daughters at home for at least one week and will re-evaluate her plans on May 23.
She feels the need to be cautious about returning her children to school because her daughters both have asthma.
“We basically want to wait to ensure another spike doesn’t happen or (if there’s) further spread,” she said. “If we decide to go past two weeks we will discuss the rest of the school year and work with their teachers to adjust. I feel specifically for N.J. it was a good decision to postpone their opening however I feel they should have taken the week (off).”
Unsustainable
Matthew Miller, president of the NWT Teachers Association (NWTTA) acknowledges that an increasing number of families are choosing to keep their children at home beyond this week and are requesting that online learning continue.
But the association is concerned about the impact on teachers’ workloads if they’re expected to prepare online and in-person lessons.
“The NWTTA opposes teachers being required to simultaneously teach in-person and online for those electing not to attend,” Miller said. “Whether it is in-person or online, our teachers always offer their best, so families may believe learning from home is an equivalent option. The challenge is requesting a teacher do both simultaneously is not sustainable.”
Miller added that the policy plan from the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment (ECE) for reopening schools in 2020-2021 states that only students unable to physically attend school due to health conditions or because they are 19 years or older will be full-time distance learning.
He said the association is also concerned about the implications for next year and the following years if a hybrid model becomes the norm.
“Does that mean people can opt in and out of classes?” he asked. “It makes it harder for teachers to schedule if a class of 20 turns into a class of three and then the next day it’s a class of 20 and then it’s a class of 10. It becomes an unofficial Northern Distance Learning class. That’s a great program, but it’s scheduled that way.”
Miller said he’s not aware of any additional supports provided for educators teaching remotely and in-person.
While he sympathizes with parents’ and teachers’ anxieties over students returning to school, he said people should be able to trust the system of safety measures and to follow them.
“We have provided all of our teachers with the proper steps to report unsafe work. It is important to remember, feeling unsafe is different than being unsafe,” he said.
Students’ return to classes comes almost one week after members of the YK1 board of trustees expressed strong concern that teachers were being pushed to their limits by spending too much time conducting online lessons.
READ HERE: YK teachers ‘stretched to limit’ while working remotely
Students encouraged to return to school: ECE
In an email to NNSL Media, Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) spokesperson Briony Grabke said ECE recognizes that some families have concerns about the return to classes, but added that all students are strongly encouraged to go back to in-person learning.
The Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (OCPHO) has introduced new safety measures for the return to classes as well, including mandatory masking indoors at school for students and staff, assigned seating in busses and gyms, the suspension of assemblies and singing indoors and increased ventilation in classrooms.
YK1, Yellowknife Catholic Schools and Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest three school “have all indicated that for students who are required to isolate, schools will continue to offer support to ensure continuity of learning,” Grabke said.
Efforts to contact YK1 superintendent Ed Lippert for comment were not successful.
