Regina public schools to close for two extra weeks

Public schools across Regina will be empty for the next month as the school division struggles to combat growing cases of COVID-19.

A letter sent to parents Monday announces that all Regina Public Schools facilities will move students to online learning for one week both before and after the holiday break. That means all students in elementary and high schools will be learning from home from Dec. 14 to Jan. 11.

The letter makes it clear that the growing number of cases in schools throughout the city is “challenging school staffs’ ability to keep students safe.” As more teachers test positive, the school division is having trouble filling those vacancies.

A media release sent out by the school division states the decision was made as a “proactive intervention” to keep staff and student families safe and ensure “business continuity” for the division and each school.

“Regina Public Schools is on the verge of a significant staffing and learning challenge,” director of education Greg Enion said in the release. “We have had to close entire classes and schools overnight, often with less than 12 hours’ notice for parents and guardians.

“We have been challenged to replace teachers, educational assistants, and other staff who test positive or must self-isolate. We are also acutely aware that if in-school classes were to continue up until the scheduled Dec. 21 holiday break, we could very likely see students and staff having to quarantine away from their families over the entire holiday period. This causes great concern.”

The release stresses the plan will ensure students continue learning up to and after the holiday break, which takes place from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1. It will also allow staff and teachers to keep working and planning without “the constant disruption of pandemic-related contact tracing and schools closing.”

The letter notes there have been 63 student and 26 staff diagnosed with COVID this school year so far, with 39 out of a total of 57 schools impacted. There have been eight elementary schools and one high school closed completely in that time, with 56 classrooms shut down as well.

According to Terry Lazarou, the supervisor of communications for the division, those closures cause a host of challenges.

“It’s been hugely disruptive to have individual students, entire classes, sometimes even schools to shut down … That is hugely disruptive to student learning. It’s also a huge strain on the mental health of our students and our staff. We’re seeing some growing uncertainty about what’s happening next: ‘Is my phone going to ring overnight to tell me that I have to stay home?’ So, this adds a two-week buffer zone,” he said in an interview with 980 CJME.

He said the decision to close the doors for an extra two weeks also has the added benefit of making sure students and staff can see their household contacts over the holidays.

“We hope it prevents a student or a staff member becoming a close contact or getting sick just before the holiday period, and then having to self-isolate from their families, from their loved ones over the holiday period,” he said.

Finding enough staff has also been a major issue.

Employee absences are up 24 per cent this term, to 8,422 employee absence days so far. A reduced pool of substitute teachers has also made it harder to fill those absences.

The division has stressed in recent weeks that there has been no evidence of transmission within schools.

The plan is supported by the board, according to the release.

“Based on our data, this move is required to support our staff and students,” said Adam Hicks, chair of the Regina Board of Education. “We understand and recognize the disruption to the in-class learning schedule this may cause many of our school families.

“Right now, in contrast, more than 1,000 families have had to plan almost overnight for their children to learn from home when we have had to close classrooms and schools. This proactive intervention provides families more time to prepare and schedule care for their children.”

Students are being asked to take home anything they need to learn at the end of this week to cover the extended break. Neither parents nor students will be allowed in the schools at all during that time.