HRCE says students and parents will see changes in the way schools are operating

As students go back to school, Doug Hadley with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education says there are going to be many changes — both large and small — all across the school system.

Everything from transportation, to lunch, and instruction will be different to one degree or another. He says entry to the school and dismissal is going to be spaced out as much as possible, in order to avoid large crowds rushing madly for the doors, based on the recommendations from Public Health.

He adds in terms of classrooms, there will be hand sanitizer everywhere, desks will be spaced out as much as possible given the room size, and teachers will be wearing masks.

“If they are in grades four to twelve they will also be wearing masks, there are going to be lots of subtle changes like that that they're going to see,” explains Hadley. “They're going to be cohorted in a classroom outside of high school where they are going to stay for the day, so stuff is going to be brought to them, staff are going to be brought to them, they're not going to be brought to staff.”

Hadley says the province provided two masks each for students and staff, and those will be handed out today if people do not already have them in hand.

“That's going to be a challenge, and we want students to understand why it's important to wear a mask, so some of those social and emotional conversations that teachers will be having with kids around why we're all sharing the responsibility for our own health, and for the shared health of others, that's going to be really important in those first few days,” says Hadley.

He hopes the requirement over the last month or so for people to wear masks when out in public will help make the transition less jarring for students and staff alike. He also reminds families it's okay to be anxious, but encourages them to do the covid checklist, to come up with a backup plan in case their child becomes ill and needs to stay home and to continue practicing safe hygiene, especially frequent hand washing.

Hadley says pickup and dropoff are going to look a little different this year, with signage, and markings to indicate where and how families and students should be approaching. He also urges families to work as hard as they can to reduce the need to come up to the school itself, asking parents to leave their kids at the edge of the property and to carpool and use the bus system where possible.

He says there are 135 schools in HRCE and there's no one size fits all solution.

“What might work at one school is not going to work at another, whether it's based on the geography of the school, whether it's based on the size of the building, or the size of the student enrollment,” explains Hadley. “So in some cases, you might see children, they arrive and go right inside, in other cases they may stay outside because one of the things in the back to school plan talks about maximizing time outside.”

Hadley says the most important connection a parent can have through the school system is through their child's teacher, but in terms of the operation of the school, they should be connecting with their school principal, and through the school website. He says they can always reach out to HRCE directly at HRCE.ca, or connect@hrce.ca.