The province announced Tuesday it would be resuming in-classroom learning for kindergarten to grade 12 students for the upcoming school year.
The announcement was made at the legislature by deputy premier Gordon Wyant, who confirmed that the new school year would begin Sept. 1.
“Students and staff will be returning to school this fall,” Wyant said. “As early as Sept. 1 our classrooms will again be a place of teaching, learning and community across Saskatchewan.”
Classrooms had been on pause since March 20 and the province has focused on online learning since then.
Wyant said the priority will continue to be the health and safety of students, staff and caregivers, and they will continue to take the advice of the Chief Health Officer.
Wyant noted that physical distancing can be less practical with young children. The focus, he said, will be on reducing risk and minimizing physical contact, and putting in place protections for students, caregivers and staff.
To provide provincial level direction on this will be the Education Response Planning Team, which includes representation from the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, the Saskatchewan Association of School Business Officials and the League of Educational Administrators, Directors and Superintendents.
According to a provincial news release the province along with the Education Response Planning Team will distribute public health guidelines being developed in concert with the Chief Medical Health Officer. Those are currently being developed but Wyant indicated these will be released to school divisions as early as next week.
Wyant said they have been “closely observing” the other jurisdictions that have started in class learning and will continue to monitor them.
He also noted while a return is what they are planning for there are contingency plans in place in the event of an elevated transmission risk, and in-class learning cannot resume as planned either regionally or provincially. Wyant asked for the public’s continued cooperation.
As for what the guidelines might look like, Wyant said physical distancing will still be important, but he indicated the guildelines could talk about things such as separate entrances, staggered classrooms or rescheduling.
“These are all things we give due consideration to,” said Wyant.
