Brandon high school class time cut in half

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This article was published 14/08/2020 (1596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — The Brandon School Division’s COVID-19 reopening strategy will shake up the high school experience.

“Our plan is going to be fluid — there’s going to be changes as a result of health measures and updates we receive from both the chief medical officer and Manitoba Education,” division superintendent Marc Casavant said Friday.

“The success of our plan is going to be a reflection of the community. When we’re successful as a community, the Brandon School Division’s plan is going to be successful, as well.”

The blueprint is broken down into three levels, depending on the severity of the pandemic.

At Level 1, in-class learning resumes at near-normal, with some health restrictions in place.

At Level 2, in-class learning resumes for K-8 students, but for high schools, classroom learning is limited depending on maintaining physical distancing and interaction between groups of students.

At Level 3, in-class learning is suspended, and work moves online.

Under the guidelines announced Friday, students from kindergarten to Grade 8 will attend school full time. Students will be separated into 75-person cohorts for all subjects to meet physical-distancing requirements.

High school students, however, will have no cohorts, but will alternate their time with 50 per cent of classes in-person and 50 per cent through remote learning.

“Our high schools are just too large in the Brandon School Division to be able to accommodate what the health measures are. So we feel comfortable that if we reduce the number of people in terms of students in the building… that we can better manage that,” Casavant said.

Entry and exits to the classroom will be managed to control the flow of people, the plan reads. Students will be able to take their backpacks from class to class to reduce locker-area congestion.

Home economics, band and choir will be paused until the division has a better sense of the required health measures. As well, all students will be barred from sharing food and drinks.

The school division is waiting on direction from the province and sports associations on how to proceed with student athletics.

As for student transport, the BSD has paid for five extra buses to meet distancing needs. Students in rural areas and special needs students in the city will be transported by the division.

The division is still working on its K-8 plans; high school students won’t be bused. (Casavant said division staff has been working with the City of Brandon on the possible use of public transit.)

The plan follows the announcement Thursday by Manitoba Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen that the provincial government is strongly encouraging students in upper grades to wear face masks, and students in lower grades can wear them should they choose.

The BSD is not mandating masks when indoors, but Casavant said the division is following the provincial health measures.

The division is also telling people who have symptoms of COVID-19, are in close contact with a confirmed case or are waiting on a test result to stay home. Casavant said the division is working with the union for educational assistants on self-isolation pay.

Teachers were surprised by the plan to have high school students only spend half their time in the classroom, Brandon Teachers’ Association president Cale Dunbar said.

“That’s going to adjust some planning that they need to do in the next two weeks… Our principals have a lot of work ahead of them in the short period of time, but I know they’re all super-capable and they’ll come up with a great plan,” he said.

Dunbar said the association would like to have face masks mandated in the division, but being “strongly encouraged” is the next best thing.

— Brandon Sun