Planning for the Months Ahead

We are excited to welcome back all Cowichan Valley School District students after the extended winter break. Last week let us prepare our staff and our schools for student’s full return.

The extended winter break allowed us time to build upon our previous investments in health and safety which included our investments in ventilation, hand washing stations, hand sanitizers, school sanitization, increased custodial cleaning, and the purchase of disposable 3-layer masks for staff and student alike. Adding to this solid foundation, we are ensuring schools have plans to avoid crowding in highly-contested areas like hallways and common areas. We are also asking to limit outside guests and that schools continue to foster a culture of mask wearing.

Additionally, the Board has also placed an initial order for 10,000 KN95 masks for district staff. While we know that the recommendations from the Provincial Health Officer is for a good fitting cloth or non-medical three-layer mask, we want to ensure our staff have the increased protection of a KN95 while they work.

Our time last week was also spent creating ‘Continuity of Learning Plans’. These plans are what will guide learning if we are forced to close a class or a school due to staff replacement. While we are hoping we do not need to utilize such plans, we know the reality of the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant means that we may have to do just that.

The plan is grounded by six key principles, and those are:

• Ensure a safe and healthy environment for students and staff
• Ensure continuity of learning for students
• Keep schools open
• Support for priority learners
• Support for Essential Service Workers
• Support for social emotional well-being for all

We will be monitoring attendance of staff on a daily basis and working with them to ensure that we can properly project prolonged absences. We will also be working closely with Island Health, and our Principals to ensure we have all the information we need when considering closing a school.

We are committed to providing continued learning for our students, to the best of our ability, if a classroom or school should need to close for a period of time.  It is our hope that we will be able to keep our schools open and ready to provide exceptional learning for students throughout the valley. Ultimately, our priority is to ensure we provide the safest and healthiest schools so our staff and students can feel safe and comfortable.

Process for Potential Closures

Determining If A Closure Is Needed.

To the best of our ability, our priority is to provide educational continuity for students and families as well as a clear and consistent district wide plan should a classroom or school need to close for a period of time.

 Key principles that guide this work:

• Ensure a safe and healthy environment for students and staff
• Ensure continuity of learning for students
• Keep schools open
• Support for priority learners
• Support for Essential Service Workers
• Support for social emotional well-being for all

 Determination of Functional Closure

• District team will track absenteeism and projected absenteeism.
• Human Resources will inform District team of school(s)/site(s) with unusually high absenteeism.
• District staff to work with dispatch and schools with unusual absenteeism.
• Consultation with Island Health to obtain any additional community information and understand the context.
• Consultation with principals to obtain any additional school information and understand the context.
• Confirmation from Human Resources that there is an inability to backfill.
• Determine appropriate level of closure:
  • Individual classroom(s) closure
  • Grade closure
  • Whole school closure
• Superintendent informs the Board and makes decision to announce a Functional Closure.
• Communication plan enacted.

 Determination of Health Closure

• A Health Closure may be determined for a school by the local health authority due to an unusually high student absence rate.
• Island Health, in consultation with the School District, will determine the level of closure (i.e.: Individual classroom(s), or whole school(s).
• The length of the closure will be determined by Island Health in consultation with the School District. It may last from 2 to 10 days and then be reassessed.