Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools (photo by Shaun Penner)

By Liam Verster

Back to School Plans

GPCSD prepares for in-class and online learning

Aug 18, 2020 | 12:45 PM

Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools are ready to offer both in-class and online learning options for students, while also maintaining the COVID-19 guidelines outlined by the Province and the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

When school resumes in the fall, children will be kept in cohorts; there will be staggered recess and lunch break; masks will be mandatory on buses and in shared spaces like hallways; physical distancing will be enforced; kids will have to enter and exit through specific entrances; and enhanced cleaning and sanitization will be a priority for students, teachers and staff.

Following a ride on a school bus and chance to sit down in a classroom as a preview of what students will have to do in the fall, Superintendent Karl Germann says it may take some time to adjust to the new rules, but he’s confident it will work out.

“I think in a couple of days we’ll have that routine down with kids. We were very much like kids and we weren’t necessarily ready for the exact routine of coming on a bus, coming off a bus, and going into a classroom. Those are the pieces that need to be drilled into routine for kids, and that’s primarily what the first week or two of school is anyway, it’s really about setting up kids and teachers and making sure that people follow them.”

Germann adds that kids tend to listen to their teachers, sometimes even more so then they listen to their parents, and if kids don’t follow the rules, they may end up not being allowed back in school.

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“We really need the community to stay safe, and the schools to stay safe, so that people can go back to work.”

GPCSD is prepared to offer an alternative for families who are not comfortable with having their children return to the classrooms. Online learning will be available, and will be much more robust than the model offered in the spring during the lockdown.

“The new online learning is going to be a complete program of studies that’s going to have the same rigour as the in-classroom.

“So if students struggled in the online environment in spring, we would encourage them to come to school in the fall because it would be more rigorous. We’re talking like a full day online, whether you’re doing assignments or a couple of hours in front of your teacher, which is far different that what people experienced this spring.”

He adds that online learning will still be much more scripted and offer less interaction with teachers than in-class learning, and suggests it would be best to have kids in class. However, if parents are feeling uncomfortable and choose to have their children learn from home, then he encourages them to use the online learning program rather than home schooling.

The online learning model will be taught by local teachers operating out of the St. John Bosco school. Germann says the GPCSD has enough staffing resources for the current plan, adding that they have set aside some funds to be able to provide a few more positions and resources to online learning, should a large number of families choose that option.

Germann adds that there has been a lot of interest in an online learning option, and they have launched a new survey to find out how many families are committed to registering to that model.

That survey is offered until August 24, and once closed, families will be set in whichever model they registered in. However, there will be a chance to move from one model to the other, starting on September 25. Students will also be able to switch in or out of online learning at the end of each semester.

He adds that all GPCSD teachers are prepared in case of a COVID-19 outbreak that would force the closure of schools and the switch to the Province’s Scenario 2 or 3, and that they are all trained on the Hapara software, which will be used to deliver online learning in those scenarios.