British Columbia government adds on to measures at province's schools

BC's Education Minister
Jennifer Whiteside hosted
an information session this
morning to outline more
safety measures for 
school's in the province

The call for additional mask use at the school's of British Columbia has been heard by the provincial government. 

In a morning press conference, Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside outlined a new masks policy for middle and secondary students and staff, as well as the staff of elementary schools part of a range of enhanced measures presented today.

As of today non-medical masks will be required in all indoor areas including when they are in a learning group, the only exceptions to the new measures are:

Sitting or standing at their seat or workstation in a classroom;
When there is a barrier in place;
Or they are eating or drinking.

The mask option remains a personal choice for students attending an elementary school in the province.

The Minster also noted that updated guidelines for those providing child care will be made available in the week ahead.

“To make sure schools continue to be as safe as possible for students and staff as the pandemic evolves, we have worked with provincial health and our partners on a continuous review of the guidelines, adapting and responding when needed. We want students, their families and staff to feel confident with the safety measures in place. That’s why we’re making these updates.”

In addition to the expanded use of masks, Guidelines have also been strengthened for physical education and music classes. 

High-intensity physical activities are to be held outside as much as possible. 

Shared equipment or items, such as weight machines, treadmills or musical instruments, can be used only if they are cleaned between use, according to strict school sanitization guidelines. 

Students using equipment or playing instruments should also be spaced at least two metres apart and masks are to be used when singing.  

The Ministry also relayed that additional funding from the federal government will be distributed to public, and independent schools, as well more funding for Indigenous learners is on the way as well.

Keeping the schools safe also made for the introduction of a new app that will assist students, parents and guardians to ensure that their youngsters are healthy, that by using the newly created K-12 health checker.

The app will allow people to answer simple questions every day. It will inform them if they can attend school or if they need to self-isolate and contact 811 to be screened for COVID-19.

You can review all of today's information from this statement from the Ministry of Education.

The new measures from the Government will answer some of the elements of a report from the BCTF that was released yesterday, among its themes was the concern of not feeling safe in the school's that teachers in the province have.

As part of the information release of the day, the Minister was joined by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Stephanie Higginson, the President of the BC School Trustees Association.

The review on the morning continued to express the BC Governments long lasting commitment to keeping the school's open and adapting to COVID as required through this current challenging period.

The full press conference introducing today's new measures and their observations related to them can be reviewed below:

For more items of note on education see our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.