Manitoba’s education minister recently confirmed the new school year will begin on September 8th — and school divisions are now busy preparing for what that may look like.
Turtle River School Division Superintendent Bev Szymesko says the province’s decision to allow limited use of classrooms in June — for individual tutoring and assessment — was helpful in restoring a sense of normalcy.
“It got some confidence back in the building, that students can come in and do some work with their teacher — but also to feel that return into the building, to feel comfortable being back in.”
Manitoba schools will face one of three possible scenarios in September, with either (1) a full return to the classroom, (2) a partial return with some classes online, and (3) an option where nearly all classes would have to be delivered remotely.
The province conducted a survey of Manitoba families, where 75% of parents who responded said they are somewhat or very comfortable with the possibility of children going back to school in September.
Manitoba’s Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen says a final decision on which scenario will be used, will be given by August 1 based on public health directions.
The Turtle River School Division Superintendent says the scenarios involving remote delivery of classes pose a challenge, especially for students with poor home internet connectivity.
Szymesko explains at the end of this past school year, the delivery of remote learning was a challenge, with some schools reaching out to parents with individual paper packages — that is where we worked really hard to connect with our families. ”
On Wednesday, the province announced Manitoba school divisions will have almost $48 million to cover unanticipated costs of the COVID-19 situation.
School divisions have also been given until September 1 to reduce their executive and senior management complements by 15%.
Medium-sized and large school divisions with more than four executive or senior management positions were expected to reduce their numbers of positions by 15%. Smaller school divisions are being directed to reduce managerial salaries and operating costs by 15%.
