What students - and parents - can expect in Saskatoon schools next week

You may be wondering what schools in Saskatoon have done to prepare for the return of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools and Saskatoon Public Schools held a media tour on Thursday afternoon to show the changes the divisions have implemented prior to reopening. 

Sylvia Fedoruk School Principal Miranda Low said the division created parent and staff handbooks which her school followed as they set up classrooms and hallways. 

She said the biggest challenge in preparing for the school year has been time, but she said the province pushing the start date back by one week to Sept. 8 really helped. 

"Luckily we've had this gift of time to be able to get everything ready so that the families feel like we're prepared and they have a sense of ease returning to the school," said Low.

Families invited to tour schools

In the lead up to the first day, Low said the school has allowed families to do come-and-go visits to get acquainted with the new rules, and many have. 

During the school year, parents and caregivers will be encouraged to stay outside, or call the front office if they need to come in. Then, they have to scan a QR code which will have them fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire.

Students will muster at flags in the morning and after recesses to prevent congestion in boot rooms and hallways.

Hallways will be divided, with decals to indicate direction and remind students of distancing rules.

Grade 4-8 students must wear masks, along with all staff members. Younger students will be encouraged to mask up as well. 

If a student is feeling symptoms of the virus, Low said they will be escorted to an isolation room to wait with her or the Vice Principal until a caregiver can pick them up. There will be isolation space in all schools in both divisions. 

Low said certain bathrooms will be designated to certain grades and half of all students will go out for recess at one time, with half taking recess when the first comes back in, to minimize mixing. 

"They become their own cohort or bubble," said Low. "Our two Grade 1 classrooms — they are a cohort. They'll play together at recess but they'll also use the same washroom." 

Charlene Scrimshaw, deputy director for Saskatoon Public Schools, said the division has been preparing for fall since the end of June. She said they had discussions about everything from transportation, to nutrition programs, to PPE and will have the same safety precautions in all schools.

Along with things like staggered recesses, she said the school division will minimize interaction between cohorts by pausing all extracurricular activities.

"It's not that we don't understand and appreciate the importance of that but, right now, to start the school year, we want to help families understand that they can come to school and their children can be safe," said Scrimshaw. "In order to do that, we just need to enter slowly and add these things on as we go."

More caretakers cleaning schools

François Rivard, the superintendent of education for Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools echoed Scrimshaw on many points including screening guests for COVID using another QR code-launched questionnaire. 

He said they have taken out furniture to reduce touch points and hired more caretakers to increase sanitization. 

"That additional staff will support the additional work that needs to take place to make sure our schools are as safe as possible," said Rivard. 

Rivard said his division has requested some of the money from the federal government to cover increased staffing and PPE.

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