INNISFAIL – Recent new regulatory changes requiring school board authorities to offer in-person classes to all students and prohibiting those authorities from denying in-person classes to students who choose not to wear masks is not to be a concern, says Shawn Russell, associate superintendent of corporate services with the 42-school Chinook’s Edge School Division.
Effective as of Nov. 24, the changes apply to grades 1-12 in all schools, including public, separate, francophone, public charter and independent schools.
“We will make things work in the context of what we are required to do,” Russell told the Albertan. “It is not something that has changed what our plans would have been.”
The division will be awaiting more details from Alberta Education on “what is expected” of the division when it comes to the new regulations, he said.
Asked if the division could have trouble finding enough teachers to meet the new requirements, he said, “If we are in a situation where we are short on staff due to illness, we would look at ways to address that and I think part of the information we will be receiving from Albertan Education will be what are the requirements for the in-person learning portion if we don’t have the staffing.
“We are confident that we have the staffing and the substitutes in place that we could make something work. It is not something that is causing us a lot of concern at this point.”
All of the division's schools are currently in-person and there are no plans to move any classes online, he said.
“We don’t have any schools that we were even considering that (moving online) at this point,” he said.
Asked if requiring classes to be offered in-person to students who don’t wear masks would cause a concern, he said, “That doesn’t change anything in our school division. We’ve always had the position that we follow the advice of the chief medical officer of health. If the chief medical officer of health were to put in a different mandate, we would follow the mandates that are put in place.”
The changes announced Nov. 24 will provide stability and predictability for school authorities and parents, said Adriana LaGrange, minister of Education.
“Securing a face-to-face classroom environment means students can continue to learn successfully while allowing their parents to go to work. It will also help to maintain and improve student mental health while minimizing student learning loss,” LaGrange said in a press release.
Kathleen Finnigan, superintendent of the Red Deer Catholic Regional School division did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
