Masks, symptom checks mark beginning of school year like no other
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/09/2020 (1584 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The nervous smiles of students on the blacktop at Principal Sparling School were covered Tuesday by face coverings in camouflage and floral prints, and what has become the pandemic uniform: disposable masks in a shade of baby blue.
Incoming Grade 5 student Cora Gibbings sported a blue mask with purple sparkles. She made it herself, with some guidance from grandma.
“We moved, so this is my first time at this school, so I was a little nervous, but I’m really excited to get back to school,” said Cora, before lining up with her peers on dots painted six metres apart on the Winnipeg playground.
Tens of thousands of kindergarten to Grade 12 students across the province took part in similar scenes Tuesday morning to mark the first day of a school year unlike any other. Many of them had not attended a full day of learning since mid-March, when Manitoba Education suspended classroom learning to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Six months later, students are back with masks, daily symptom screening, and physical-distancing protocols.
“It’s going to be a historic day every school and community will remember,” said Sparling principal Lionel Pang. “I can’t wait for a vaccine.”
As administrators at the West End school went through the COVID-19 checklist with every student on the playground, one student mumbled he was nervous, to which a teacher replied she, too, was nervous but together, they would learn the new safety procedures.
Pang welcomed families back and reassured them school community members will adjust with time.
Education minister welcomes new school year
Manitoba Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen said Tuesday, while this is not a normal school year, “That doesn’t mean that we don’t want it to be an excellent school year.”
“We really want this to be a great year for all of our students in Manitoba,” he said.
At a news conference at the Manitoba Legislative Building, Goertzen commended school teachers and administrators for their work in preparing for the start of school this fall.
“All of those different methods of group teaching and coming together, and having students close together and doing work together — they are unlearning that in some ways and doing things differently. So we need to give a lot of credit to those teachers and to all of those working in the school system for doing this under very difficult circumstances,” he said.
Goertzen said he knows it has been a stressful time for parents as they prepare to get children ready for school.
“But I know the vast majority have done so with optimism and with encouragement for their students. And we all know, those of us who have children, that ultimately the attitudes that our children take towards many things in life is a reflection of the attitude that we as parents have on those things in life. And I am very, very grateful for all of the parents who’ve been preparing their students for class today to go with optimism and to look forward to the school year. And I think we have lots to be optimistic about.”
— Larry Kusch
“Children are like sponges,” he said. “I think probably by Friday, they will understand the routine and it’ll just take a few weeks to have it as habit.”
The new routine at the K-6 school consists of students’ having to find a dot that matches their classroom colour and line up, pass a screening test, and enter the school with their classmates in a socially distanced fashion. Inside, both hallways and classrooms have new directional flows and collaborative tables have been replaced by individual desks.
Since parents have been barred from entering the building, students lugged heavy backpacks filled with school supplies, hand sanitizer and spare masks to homerooms.
During the drop-off, Sarah Steinhauer said she’s worried the new protocols will distract her 11-year-old son from academics.
“There’s just so much additional fear that these kids don’t need; I think the biggest challenge will be helping him manage the fear of following new rules versus just having fun and being a kid and learning,” Steinhauer said.
The first day of school is typically reserved for ice-breaker games and summer vacation reflections. This year, teachers and students focused on getting to know both each other and public health protocols.
High schoolers at Windsor Park Collegiate were eased into new routines with one-on-one orientation sessions Tuesday. Students were taught the new rules — ranging from a requirement they attend classes daily in alternating morning and afternoon shifts to lockers being off limits indefinitely — during their 20-minute meetings.
“It’s nerve-racking because you want the kids to feel comfortable in a world that we’re not totally familiar with yet,” said Anita Fedoruk, a Grade 7/8 teacher. It doesn’t help hugs are frowned upon for the time being, she added.
In order to accommodate two metres between desks, Fedoruk’s 25 students will be spread out into two classrooms. She and support staff will move between the neighbouring spaces. When she isn’t in one room, her face and voice will be projected in it.
Outside the Winnipeg school, Grade 10 students Nikki MacDonald and Bailey Gardner shared in their disappointment mid-pandemic schooling means they aren’t supposed to move freely throughout the school or hangout with students in different cohorts. Windsor Park students are expected to leave the building once their classes are done for the day.
“I think everyone’s woken up at this point — hopefully,” MacDonald said, when asked about whether she thinks students will obey the new protocols.
At Principal Sparling, Dexter Dela Cruz was one of the last parents left standing on the playground after the school bell rang Tuesday morning.
He waited until his grades 2 and 5 students had entered the building. Then, Dela Cruz let out a sigh of relief.
The father of two said he’s felt increasingly anxious as the active COVID-19 caseload hikes in Manitoba, but watching the new school protocols first-hand has put him at ease.
“I feel a little better,” he said. “I think (teachers) are doing all the necessary things.”
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Maggie Macintosh
Reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.
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History
Updated on Tuesday, September 8, 2020 1:58 PM CDT: corrects six metres to two metres
