Back-to-School Live Round Table: SK + Band Strategies

In 2015, 11,747 of Northern Saskatchewan’s roughly 40,000 residents were under the age of 15; we have a young population, and one that is presently – and cautiously - returning to public schools.

On August 11, 2020 Education Minister Gord Wyant clarified that masks-use would be left up to school boards. The ‘Safe Schools Plan’ had been released a week prior on August 4, and outlined four levels at which schools may re-open, some of which did not include mask use.

Level 1 aimed to create a learning environment ‘as close to normal’ as possible, while Level 2 deferred mask use to the Chief Medical Officer.

Level 3 allowed schools to run at a reduced capacity, via cohorting, hybrid learning models, and more, while Level 4 mandated the transition to remote learning. All of the levels other than 1 insisted on mask policies.

The result was flexible but asynchronous ‘back to school’ experience in northern Saskatchewan that left parents feeling uncertain: cases remained low but policies to deal with a changing case load were different, sometimes in the same community.  

On Sept 3, 2020 MBCRadio hosted a live ‘round table’ with three Directors of Education from administrative educational bodies in the north: (1) Northern Lights School Division (NLSD #113) [Provincial], (2) the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and (3) the Athabasca denesuline Education Authority – administered by the Prince Albert Grand Council. This is by no means full representation of School Boards in the north, as other Grand Councils and their members were absent, notably the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.

The intent of the round table was to compare and contrast strategies for Back to School in northern Saskatchewan, with a focus on pacifying parent concerns.

During the live-stream Jason Young, the Director of Education for NLSD #113 – which covers nearly half the provincial north - said that after talking to parents in the region the board felt it ‘would be prudent to resume school at SK’s Level 3’ in general, but that some schools in the large area would resume at Level 1 if they so choose. In a style similar to the provincial government Young deferred key choices to those in the more immediate communities.

In La Ronge, the Churchill Community High School’s COVID-19 Response Plan includes masks, student cohorts (Grades 7-10), Quad System (Grades 10-12), and an Outdoor-Education focus. 

Young also emphasized an alternate online pathway for students via the ‘EdCentre’ – an online education portal that until recently was only available for grades 10-12; after a content acquisition made possible by central-Saskatchewan’s Sun West School Division the EdCentre now has content for grades K through 12.

Simon Bird, Director of Education for the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, which has roughly 10,000 members throughout Northern Saskatchewan and schools in La Ronge, Sucker River, and Hall Lake, among others, also noted the EdCentre was similarly available to in-school Band Members.

Bird emphasized the importance of parents taking advantage of the start-date push back – school begins Sept 14 in LLRIB schools - to ask questions to their local school administrators: ‘What you are worried about we are also worried about, perhaps an answer already exists’ said Bird ‘... come ask, and let our comfort level be your comfort level’ and vice-versa.

Bird spoke of a recent parents survey that the band had conducted in advance of the return to school, stating that the majority (>50%) were alright with resuming under a blended learning environment that meant students were at the school only 50% of the time. Bird noted that masks would be mandatory in grades 4-12, citing difficulty with mask use for younger students; masks would also be changed every four hours, based on advice from Band Health Professionals.

The 'far north central region' (Athabasca) is yet to have a recorded case, noted Education Director Gerry Guillet--a fact that motivates the regions schools reopening at Level 1.

‘For once our people are proud to be isolated’ said Guillet, noting that this was only the first year of operation for the Athabasca Denesuline Education Authority, which began in August of 2019.

Today, on Sept 10, 2020 the first confirmed case of COVID-19 has occurred in the sub-region that includes La Ronge and the Tri-Communities (Far North East 2) since the pandemic began. The province notes in its ‘Safe Schools Plan’ that if a student tests positive at a school, all parents of students at that school will be informed, but that a single case does not constitute an outbreak.