It was the first day of classes for some schools in Alberta as students, parents and teachers brace for a school year that will be unlike any other in history.
Students were returning to school in St. Albert, Stony Plain, Spruce Grove and Parkland County on Monday.
Parkland School Division is staggering its first days on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. At Graminia Community School near Spruce Grove, around 500 kids returned to the classroom Monday morning.
Many students there opted for in-person classes over online alternatives, some bussing in from surrounding rural areas to the K-to-9 school.
Principal Corey Haley said the overriding emotion among teachers was excitement to return — with some trepidation.
“It’s a little bit of a balance between being excited to have students and then also being cautious in wanting to make sure that we are safe,” he said during an on-location interview with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
Haley said the students’ smiles as they saw their friends again were evidence of the importance of schools in the community. A school’s social aspects are lost when lessons are relegated to the virtual classrom, he said.
“Schools are centres of communities,” Haley said, adding that families connect through school, and are encouraged to meet and chat.
Outside the school doors, that is. Visitor access at Graminia is limited in keeping with the Parkland School Division’s guidelines.
“There are quite a bit of rules that we’ve put in place to keep it as safe as we possibly can,” Haley said.
Masks, separate entrances by grade, washroom occupancy limits, foot traffic signs — all common sights for schools reopening under the province’s guidance this month.
Although Haley expects challenges, he’s optimistic that students will take care of each other under the new normal.
“My experience is that kids, they have a tendency to surprise in a positive way.”
Many school divisions across Alberta will be starting up again this week. Edmonton Catholic Schools will have its first day on Sept. 2 with Edmonton public following the next day.
Sturgeon Public and Elk Island Public Schools return on Sept. 1.
In northern Alberta, the High Prairie School Division said on their website that the Prairie River Junior High School would delay its first day of school on Monday after an individual who recently visited the school tested positive for COVID-19.
