Canada: B.C. announces back-to-school plans, as parents show wariness about return
Canada/ 29 July 2020/ Source/ https://www.cbc.ca/
Almost half of parents in province undecided about sending kids back to class, poll shows
B.C. officials provide an update on return to school LIVE
B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry share the plan for the start of the school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. 0:00
B.C. is expected to unveil its plans for the upcoming school year on Wednesday, four months after classes were put on hold due to the coronavirus.
Provincial health and education officials will make the announcement at 12:30 p.m. PT.
Education Minister Rob Fleming has previously said the province is moving forward with an evidence-based and scientific approach, with flexibility to change course in case of a second wave.
“We have to be prepared based on the circumstances of the virus and transmission to be able to nimbly move back,” he said.
Fleming has previously hinted that elementary and middle school students could be looking at a full return to classrooms.
- B.C. weighing different options for September, with school announcement expected Wednesday
Dan Davies, the opposition B.C. Liberal Party’s critic for education, is hoping for more examples of what parents and teachers can expect come September.
“We want nothing more than to have a safe startup and a couple of options of what that looks like to give some clarity to teachers, as well as to families out there right now that are in a very, very uncertain time,” he said.
B.C. parents wary of return to school: poll
A recent poll suggests many parents are on the fence about sending their kids back to school at all.
The poll by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies found 40 per cent of B.C. parents would send their kids back to school if there was some kind of classroom instruction at least a few days a week — lower than the national average of 59 per cent.
In B.C., 48 per cent of parents said they were still undecided.
- B.C. aims to have younger students back in class full time this fall
The online poll of more than 1,500 Canadians took place over the past weekend. It cannot be given a margin of error because it is not a random sample.
The poll also found more than 80 per cent of people were in favour of mandatory temperature checks for students and mandatory masks for teachers.
Luis Giraldo, a Vancouver father of an eight-year-old boy, said he’s leaning toward keeping his son out of school while his family keeps an eye on what the province decides to do, and to see whether schools will be able to implement safety measures effectively.
“We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” Giraldo said.
“We’d rather play safe and stay home.”
Source
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-back-to-school-plan-1.5666749
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