Sask. gov't in talks with some large schools about possibility of halving class sizes

Premier Scott Moe says the Saskatchewan government remains in active talks with some large schools about halving class sizes and alternating school days should those schools move to Level 3 of the province's back-to-school plan.

Under that level — originally described when the province released its plan on Aug. 4 — "school capacity will be reduced. This may include establishing cohorts and hybrid learning models as considerations."

One week later, on Aug. 11, the province cited some of the factors under consideration for densely populated high schools that might move to Level 3, including location, structure and population density.

"School divisions may consider additional options, including alternating days for high school students," the Ministry of Education said in a release that day.

On Monday, the ministry provided an update, saying that school divisions are currently preparing plans on how a move to Level 3 would work.

On Tuesday, Moe stressed on CBC's The Morning Edition that "the province has not opened the door to a Level 3 operational plan as we speak."

"But we are looking at it at a very granular level with individual divisions with respect to individual schools," Moe said Tuesday of the ongoing talks. "[Level 3] would allow for essentially halving a number of the classrooms or all of the classrooms if necessary to ensure that those small class sizes can be achieved."

The government has not set out a cap for those smaller class cohorts, which the Saskatchewan NDP has called one of the province's many back-to-school failings. 

• 4 questions Saskatchewan's Opposition has about the province's back-to-school plan