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Tuesday marks two weeks since the return to school in Saskatchewan.
So, how have things gone? Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) President Patrick Maze told 650 CKOM that it has come with anxiety, but also excitement.
“In the next few weeks, things will start to stabilize a bit. And yet, then again, once we see more cases in our schools, which we’re pretty much certain to see,” he explained Tuesday.
Maze said he believes we’re up to about “eight situations” involving COVID-19 in Saskatchewan schools in the first two weeks.
He added that in the COVID-19 situations, students, staff and parents are getting little, to no information about the specifics on the actual cases. Just that the cases were detected, rather than information as to if it was a student or a staff member.
In addition to those situations, Maze said isolation rooms in schools— which students need to visit if they exhibit symptoms of COVID-19— have been busy.
Maze says if you have 10 or 12 students going into isolation rooms, it means maintenance staff and school staff have an extra workload.
“Busier in some schools than others, and that creates a tremendous amount of extra work for (staff),” he said.
Moving online, moving back to in-class creating anxiety
Specifics on class size numbers, whether it be online or in-class, are tough to predict at this time, Maze said.
Students and their caregivers are still working on what works best for them. It’s creating some issues from the school administration- who are looking to set up working cohorts and blocked schedules- along with teachers- whose in-class and online learning class lists continue to fluctuate, Maze said.
“I do know in some situations, school divisions have underestimated how many students were moving to an online format. In those situations, they’ve had to reassign teachers from classrooms into online learning,” he said.
“Teachers are going through a tremendous amount of anxiety as they work to gain understanding and materials in order to be able to teach in these subjects.
“You can’t provide the detailed instruction with that many kids in your class lists.”
Some educators in online instruction are also working outside of their specialities, which is creating another issue.
Maze says if the school divisions had have had more time to prepare and allocate resources, this situation could look different.
“They’re trying to scramble now in order to fulfill all the needs.”
Maze said educational assistants are also specifically for in-school learning, which has some educators catering to a class-load they haven’t had to deal with in their careers.
“Teachers, at this point, are not being provided with any teaching assistants,” he said.
In-class learning levels are actually lower than anticipated, Maze explained, but teachers are still on edge with the possibilities of class size fluctuation.
“There’s a lot of anxiety right now from the teacher’s perspective. If you’ve got 24 (students) in a grade seven classroom right now, that might seem like a reasonable number. But knowing that you could have anywhere from 10 to 12 more students move back in… it’s difficult to predict at this point,” he said.
“Hopefully, by the end of the month, we’ll have an idea of where students are at and what parents are thinking as far as remaining online or moving back to in-class instruction.”
“Safe Alternatives” still up in the air
In Saskatchewan’s return to school plans announced on Aug. 4, “safe alternatives” were outlined as to how to prepare for the students’ return.
That includes returning to school as normal, mandatory mask usage, cohorts or hybrid learning models and even the implementation of mandatory remote learning.
Maze said in his understanding, there are no discussions yet at the school division levels.
“The beautiful weather will play into some of that as well, as it makes it a little bit easier to get outside and do some things like that,” he said.
One school in the Prairie Valley School Division, located in Indian Head, did have to deal with moving into the remote learning alternative days prior to the start of the year.
Maze explained more about that situation, as well.
“They pushed back their start date due to about four potential cases where (the) staff was asked to isolate. One confirmed case and then several others that were suspected,” he said.
“At the start of the year, you want to make connections directly with students. You want to develop relationships and expectations and get to know your students. Very difficult to do that online.”
Maze said educators did their best in that situation.
The president also mentioned that the communities that have schools do need to play their part, as well, in keeping students and staff safe.
“There’s still a lot of city sports groups that are offering different types of camps and things and while I get the fact that it’s important for students to get athletic activity… during a pandemic (it) really doesn’t make sense for people to try (to) organize events in the evening that do a lot of work undermining the cohorting and the block scheduling,” he explained.
Maze reiterated that parents and students need to stay patient as the STF navigates the changes in day-to-day operations. He’s heard from staff members that days fly by, with the additional workload created by COVID-19.
“I think a number of them are keeping up a brave face for their students, yet they do need to look after themselves too. I hear that they’re hanging (by a thread) as far as keeping it together. I just want to make sure staff… for their own mental health (that) they take the time out of their day,” Maze said.
“I know the first two weeks of school (are) demanding at the best of times. During a pandemic, it’s just multiplied… We’re going through this step-by-step, just as they are. We’re trying our best. A bit of patience goes a long way.”