Southeast Cornerstone Public School Division staff and board members reflected on being “immersed in the pandemic, not defined by the pandemic” during their monthly meeting on June 16.
A Health and Safety Response plan was created by Southeast Cornerstone to create a safe learn and teaching environment across the system, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions that were in place. Cornerstone followed guidelines from the Government of Saskatchewan Primary and Secondary Educational Institution, the Saskatchewan Re-Open Plan, CMHO and LMHO recommendations, and Public Health Orders.
Many options were provided for families during the 2020-21 school year, including in-class learning that followed Public Health Order guidelines; an increase of Cyber Stone Virtual School classes to include Kindergarten to Grade 12, increased staffing for the virtual school and increased home-based education for families. Southeast Cornerstone staff worked with families to align choices for what methods best met the circumstances faced by students.
All schools in Southeast Cornerstone started the 2020-21 school year at Level 2, which included implementation of a masking mandate for students and staff. Two schools were moved to Level 3 on November 13, due to direction from the CMHO for all high schools over 600 students to move to alternate day attendance.
All schools were moved to Level 4 for two weeks following the Easter break. There were 23 out of 37 physical schools in Southeast Cornerstone that were identified as also moving to Level 4 remote learning during the school year, due to cases of COVID in the school where individuals were infectious.
Nine schools in Southeast Cornerstone had staff or students who tested positive with COVID-19, but were not infectious while in school, which meant that no learning changes had to be made. Five schools had no one test positive with COVID-19, to the knowledge of Southeast Cornerstone.
Staff and students of Southeast Cornerstone are beginning to prepare for the summer, with only a few days of classes remaining in the school year. Contact tracing for Grade 10 to 12 has returned to individuals within proximity of six feet for an accumulated 15 minutes. Graduations and farewells are resuming within the guidelines of 150 people in an outdoor setting.
It was noted that although Southeast Cornerstone does not have all data from the school year, they did monitor throughout the year and student achievement levels indicated that students had progressed well academically.
Southeast Cornerstone received a lot of conflicting feedback from stakeholders, with some asking for an increase in safety protocols, and others asking for a decrease in safety protocols. It was a challenge for the school division to respond to all communications in a timely fashion, while maintaining a focus on safety and the core work of educating 8,200 students.
A guideline for the 2021-2022 school year will be provided to school divisions by late July. Based on the Re-Opening Roadmap and the move to Step 3 for reducing of restrictions, the school divisions is predicting there may be changes in the fall from the current structures, and a return to more normal practices.
However, it was noticed that since are no current vaccination recommendations for those aged 12 and under, there may still be some safety layers of protection required for school-aged children. Southeast Cornerstone will share direction with parents, guardians, staff and stakeholders when they have a clear indication of direction from the Ministry of Education.
