Announcements

Dear families, ­

The Ministry of Education announced on Wednesday that our province will be moving to modified Stage 2 of B.C.’s Education Restart Plan, and safely bringing K-12 students back to class full time for September 2020. A link to the ministry news release on this plan is here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020EDUC0040-001415. You can also watch Wednesday’s press conference with Minister of Education Rob Fleming and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoqjWBNMBSE.

Modified Stage 2 involves the full return to in-class instruction for all students for the maximum time possible within learning group limits. Therefore, following the advice of the provincial health officer, in Stage 2, students in our school district will be organized into consistent learning groups of staff and students. Learning group size limits have been set at a maximum of 60 people for elementary schools and a maximum of 120 people for secondary schools. These learning groups will help reduce the risk of transmission, enable quick contact tracing, and allow for more in-class learning time as well as increased peer interaction and support.

For your information, a learning group will consist of a group of students and staff who primarily interact with each other and who will remain together throughout the school quarter, semester, or year. The group can be made up of a single class of students, multiple classes that sometimes join together for additional learning activities, or a group of secondary school students with the same courses. Additional information about learning groups is available on the Ministry of Education website.

School districts will also continue to follow enhanced health and safety measures following the guidelines developed by the BC Centre for Disease Control and the BC Ministry of Health, and outlined in the updated COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K-12 School Settings manual. These measures include enhanced cleaning and disinfection procedures, more individual and smaller group activities, and limitations on assemblies and other large gatherings.

Finally, student transportation will be available in Stage 2, with the wearing of masks on the bus as an anticipated requirement. Updated information regarding student bussing will be posted to the district student transportation page at https://www.sd42.ca/student-transportation/ by or before August 26,2020.

The Ministry of Education will be developing additional operational guidelines over the coming weeks to further assist school districts with their planning for September. I will provide you with all updates as soon as they become available.

Our school district will be reviewing the revised health and safety guidelines and making detailed plans for their implementation. I will provide you with an update on how our school district is implementing these guidelines, organizing learning groups, and establishing bell schedules as soon as our plans have been finalized. We will be submitting our plans and final details to the ministry and posting them to the school district website by August 26, 2020.  

As I am sure that you can appreciate, the organization of our secondary schools around learning groups of 120 students and staff is a complex task, and it will involve some significant changes to how we usually organize secondary timetables. We are working on these organizational changes now. At the elementary school level, the organization of learning groups of 60 students and staff is, thankfully, not as complicated to implement.

We ask for your patience as we consult with our partner group leaders and put our plans into place. 

Sincerely,

Sylvia Russell
Superintendent

Quick Links:

July 29, 2020 Ministry of Education News Release: Plan to safely bring K-12 students back to class full time.

July 29, 2020 Press Conference with Minister Rob Fleming and PHO Dr. Bonnie Henry

COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K-12 School Settings (Updated July 29, 2020)

BC’s Education Restart Plan

Learning Groups for Students and Staff

Our district highlights from the 2019/20 school year capture not only some of the successes we see in our schools every day, but also the kindness and compassion with which our school communities respond when faced with a unique challenge.

This year’s feature includes a section celebrating our graduating class of 2020. We hope you enjoy our 2019/20 highlights and look forward to sharing more stories with you in the next school year.

A Special Public Board Meeting will be held on July 22, 2020, at 1 pm. The meeting will be live-streamed at https://www.sd42.ca/online-board-meetings/ and on the school district YouTube channel.

Dear families,

Thank you for working with our staff as we reorganized to limit in-class instruction in March, moved quickly to provide remote learning opportunities and then opened up our schools again for limited in-school instruction in June. I know that the past several months have been challenging for our families, for our staff and for the province as a whole.

As we prepare for summer break, I am writing to provide some information about what you can expect for the new school year. 

The Ministry of Education is aiming to open schools in September at Stage One of the K-12 Education Restart Plan. However, we know that conditions could change as we progress through the summer and must therefore prepare contingency plans. At this time, we are planning for both a full return to school and a hybrid educational model consisting of remote/online learning and in-classroom instruction. The K-12 Education Restart Plan outlines a number of stages, and as a school district we must anticipate and prepare for moving to any one of the stages identified. The Provincial Health Officer will provide school districts with direction on which stage to move to before schools reopen in the fall. We expect to receive this direction by August 20, and I will be in touch with you at that time to provide further information.

In preparation for the likely continuation of a hybrid model of remote and in-classroom instruction, our school district will work to improve remote delivery by limiting and standardizing the number of platforms our schools use to support online learning. We believe this standardization of online platforms will improve the experience for students, staff, and families.

If our province continues to effectively manage our pandemic, I encourage all students to make the return to in-classroom instruction in the fall. Our experience this June has shown that the health and safety procedures we have developed are effective and that we can reopen our schools for students and staff safely in the fall. The relationships that teachers, staff and students form in September are a critical foundation for the work that occurs during the school year. In the event the Provincial Health Officer needs to limit access to schools during flu season, students will be best served if they have already formed strong relationships with staff and know the routines of their new classroom(s). 

I wish you all a wonderful and happy summer!

Sylvia Russell
Superintendent

Dear parents/guardians,

Please see below the letter from Minister of Education Rob Fleming and BCCPAC President Andrea Sinclair. French, Chinese and Punjabi translations of the letter are also available.

Letter to Parents from Minister Fleming and President Andrea Sinclair

Translations:

Letter to Parents_French Translation

Letter to Parents_Traditional Chinese translation

Letter to Parents_Simplified Chinese translation

Letter to Parents_ Punjabi translation

Starting September 1, 2020, Fundamentals Childcare Centre will be providing before- and after-school care and preschool services at ćəsqənelə Elementary.

For more information, please visit the Fundamentals Childcare Centre website at www.fundamentalschildcare.ca or email fundamentals.cqe@gmail.com.

Dear families,

Current events in Canada and the United States remind us of the work that must be done to make our society and our school district open, safe, inclusive and responsive – places where all can learn, thrive and lead dignified lives. The death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests include an unparalleled and broad cross-section of American and Canadian citizens who have, with peaceful protest, signaled the need for change. One of the most heartening observations that I make of the protests is the overwhelming involvement of young people, who have delivered a compelling message: the time for quiet support is now past. We must take action. (more…)

The June 17, 2020 regular meeting of the Board will be live-streamed at https://www.sd42.ca/online-board-meetings/ and on the school district YouTube channel starting at 6 pm.

During the week of June 15, we are shining the spotlight on our grads. (more…)

The Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District’s 2020 Retirement Tea will be live-streamed through the SD42 YouTube channel and on this web page on Tuesday, June 16, starting at 4:30 pm. Please join us in honouring our retiring district employees.