Photo: Shaun Penner

By Shaun Penner

Grades 7-12 moving online Monday

Grande Prairie area school divisions quickly pivoting to altered format under new restrictions

Nov 25, 2020 | 1:10 PM

School divisions in Grande Prairie and across Alberta are making the necessary adjustments, as new public health restrictions put in place Tuesday by the Alberta Government will see students in Grades 7 through 12 move to at-home learning for the next four instructional weeks, starting on Monday, November 30.

Those grades will be moving to a virtual learning format from November 30 to December 18. They will then have a two-week Christmas break, and then do one more week of at-home learning on January 4 before returning to the classroom on January 11.

For the Grande Prairie Public School Division Board Chair John Lehners, the measures announced late Tuesday came as a surprise to the division.

“We heard about it the same time that everybody else did,” said Lehners.

“I think it was a difficult decision that came out during the day, and they (the province) had a whole bunch of deliberations. My understanding is that they kind of flipped and flopped around a bunch of different options and came up with this.”

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The measures will see Grades K-6 remain in the classroom until December 18, followed by the two-week Christmas break.

Students in those grades will then have one week of online learning from January 4 to 8, before returning to class on January 11.

“It’s a real balancing act, trying to figure out what makes sense, and sometimes you just need to deffer to the science,” said Lehners. “As leaders, we just have to set good examples, and we’ll do that.”

“Hopefully this COVID lessens up and we can get back to something that is closer to normal.”

That science and data the provincial government referenced in its decision-making Tuesday, according to Premier Jason Kenney, is that schools are seeing very limited transmission within the school settings themselves and that community transmission is affecting schools more than anything.

Kenney said from those community factors, a higher proportion of older students are contracting and spreading the virus.

“Teenagers are much more likely to transmit the virus than younger children. A longer period away from school for these older students will help to reduce broader community transmission.”

One factor also referenced by both the Premier and Lehners was the issue of childcare and the challenges it creates for parents of younger students, which could have played a role in the decision to keep Grade K-6 students in the classroom

“Part of the logic is we got to make it easier for parents,” said Lehners.

Though the need to quickly pivot came with no notice, Lehners says the division is prepared to transition students to an online format, like what they had in the spring.

He says though

students should be prepared for the same workload as if they were in class.

“We’re trying to continue to provide a good education and meet the mandates of the Alberta curriculum.”

With the new restrictions announced Tuesday, Alberta Education has also made diploma exams optional for rest of the year. Students can choose to write an exam or receive an exemption for the January, April, June, and August 2021 exams.