OLDS - Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) is continuing to work diligently to support the mental health wellness of students, teachers and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, says superintendent Kathleen Finnigan.
With in-person classes now back in place, the division is continuing with various measures to ensure that anyone struggling with mental health has resources and help available, she says.
“We feel we have a good approach when it comes to mental wellness of our folks,” said Finnigan. “We will continue to keep a spotlight on mental wellness of students, staff and families as we move forward.
“That is a priority for the board, along with the learning progression of students as they move in and out of the school because they’ve had to self-isolate or if they have actually been a positive case.”
RDCRS includes schools in Olds and Innisfail. The division is headquartered in Red Deer.
Various programs and supports are in place in the division to help students with mental health wellness, she said.
“For students and families, they can go through our school counsellors and our family school enhancement counsellors, as well as our administrators if needed,” she said.
“We have a robust team for student support made up of a behavioural specialist, a cognitive learning specialist, and a psychologist. That team is enacted whenever we feel there is a need with a school or with an individual student.”
Teachers and staff can receive mental health support through the Alberta School Employment Benefit Program (ASEBP), she said.
“We have a very strong benefits administrator, so if they want to (seek help) confidentially, she can direct them to a support,” she said. “We work with the ASEBP, which provides really good service to our staff. They have excellent services to support our staff.
“We are asking a lot of good questions in our instructional walk-throughs to make sure that the mental well-being is taken care of in our school division.”
Teachers and staff have been holding up very well during the pandemic, she said.
“It’s been difficult because at times they are in school teaching and at times they are online,” she said. “That shift back and forth is challenging.
“I am very proud of our staff because they really focus on student needs and the learning progression first and foremost.”
Students across the province, including in RDCRS, recently completed a period of time where in-person classes were suspended as part of COVID-19 restrictions.
The launching of a COVID-19 hotline in RDCRS in mid-December has proven useful, she said.
“We created the hotline for parents to call directly if there has been positive case in their home and that is proven to be successful,” she said, noting about eight calls on the hotline have been received to date.
Plans are to keep the hotline in operation now that in-class learning has resumed, she said.
“We will continue with that process with a director overseeing the hotline and dispersing out responsibilities based on the information she receives,” she said.
The recent online learning period was successful for RDCRS students and parents, she said.
“From what I understand it went very well as a result of enhanced communication and connections to keep the learning at home,” she said. “We are hearing it went well.”
The division has not implemented any new COVID-19 prevention protocols with the return to classes, sticking with the measures put in place prior to classes going online, she said.
“We have stayed with our measures because they were very successful,” she said. “We are staying with the course. We feel good about our measures.”
Those measures includes hand sanitizing and social distancing. The division is regularly reminding the school community of the measures through social media and letters, she said.
Asked if the division is seeking further support from the province in support of COVID-19 prevention measures, she said no.
“At this time we are doing well,” she said.
