Sask. schools get funding for more staff, encouraged to find ways to shrink classes

Premier Scott Moe provided more details Monday on the Saskatchewan government’s updated return-to-school plan.

In a social media post Saturday, Moe had said the government was pushing back the start date for classes from Sept. 1 to Sept. 8, was going to provide $40 million more funding to school divisions as they prepare for students to return to class, and was going to increase testing.

During a media conference Monday, Moe and Dr. Saqib Shahab — the province’s chief medical health officer — offered more information on those topics and others.

The funding, which the province stressed was new money, will come from a $200-million provincial COVID-19 contingency fund that Moe said was intended to be for all government ministries.

The education funding comprises of $20 million that will be available to school divisions on an application basis for pandemic-related costs including staffing and sanitation supplies, $10 million that will be available for non-classroom options like distance learning (mainly for immunocompromised and medically fragile students), and $10 million that will go to the Ministry of Education to buy masks, personal protective equipment and other supplies for school divisions.

School divisions must apply for the funding, with more details to be provided to them Tuesday.

Moe told reporters school divisions were also being encouraged to find ways to cohort students in smaller groups or to find spaces in which students could be more physically distanced.

He said some divisions could have the advantage of having some schools at capacity, while other buildings in their jurisdiction have more room.

“Sometimes you will see a larger class size in a particular school, and then a mile away there may be a school that has some available capacity,” he said.

Moe said some specific schools could receive additional funding to support spreading students out more, depending on circumstances.

But most school divisions are still being left to decide on their own as to what COVID-19 protocols will be put in place.

The premier said the government and public officials have “opened a door,” through advice on masks and student distribution.

“It’s a school division’s decision as to whether they walk through that door carte blanche across their division, or whether they walk through that door in specific facilities,” he said.

As Moe mentioned Saturday, all school divisions in the province are to provide updated information to families by Aug. 26 on the level at which they plan to resume classes.

The government initially stated school would resume at Level 1 — as close to normal as possible — but some divisions already have said they’ll require masks (Level 2) and others have suggested they’ll go to some remote learning (Level 3).

“School divisions are currently preparing plans for submission to the Ministry of Education this week for considerations of altering operations of high-density schools, primarily in collegiate settings, under Level 3 of the Safe Schools Plan,” the media release said.

The extra week before the start of the school year is designed to give teachers and staff more time to get familiar with new protocols, to reconfigure classrooms, and, if possible, to hold virtual meetings with parents to discuss procedures.

Changes will be made to COVID-19 testing in the province — and not just at schools.

According to the release, Regina and Saskatoon will introduce drive-through testing sites which will require only a health card as opposed to a referral from HealthLine.

The province is encouraging all teachers and staff members to be tested before the school year as well as throughout the year. According to the government, “priority access to testing will be established for teachers and school staff in the coming days, with referrals available through 811.”

Voluntary tests also will be offered in schools as part of the province’s increased testing. Parents can also give permission for their child to be randomly tested for COVID-19 at school.

NDP says ‘nothing new’ in the announcement

While the Saskatchewan Party offered another adjustment to its return-to-school guidelines, the opposition NDP has not changed its message.

“Despite it being this important that we get (our back-to-school plan) right, Scott Moe manages to continually … get it wrong,” NDP Leader Ryan Meili said Monday afternoon.

The NDP says Monday’s announcement by Moe was nothing new.

The NDP criticized the government for failing to instruct school districts in issues like dealing with outbreaks, smaller class sizes and masks.

NDP education critic Carla Beck also commented on Moe’s decision to delay the start date for schools to Sept. 8, saying it came with “no warning.”

Beck said the NDP will continue to push for a “strict plan.”

‘Lots of work that still needs to be done:’ STF comments

The president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is frustrated with the lack of clear direction by the Saskatchewan government.

Patrick Maze spoke with 650 CKOM after Moe’s update, voicing his thoughts on the mixed messages schools have been receiving from the government.

“We end up with lots of suggestions, but no clear direction on how they can accomplish these suggestions,” Maze said. “It’s clear that the plan that they have isn’t working, and they need to really get serious about making our school’s safe places.”

Maze added they are just a few weeks away from the start of the school year, saying “Is it too late now?” when he brought up how some school divisions will access the money from the government’s contingency plan.

“It really isn’t even new money, it’s just money that was assigned a while ago from the pandemic planning that no one could access,” Maze said. “It’s nice we will finally be able to see it, but I am not sure it will be enough when they think of ventilation systems, upgrades or hiring new staff.”

A big question that remains on Maze’s mind is how schools are going to manage with class sizes.

“It’s nice to say smaller class sizes, but the reality is we don’t know how this will play out and just leaving this all up to school divisions isn’t very responsible,” he said.

Maze hopes things will be more clear sooner rather than later.

Maze added teachers he has spoken with are excited to get back into the classroom and do some face-to-face learning as long as it’s done safely.

“Some of these announcements are doing nothing to inspire confidence. Teachers are inherently planners, so they want to know that there is an organized plan,” he said.

“Right now it feels very scrambled. There is lots of work that still needs to be done.”