Manitoba parents are getting more details about next week’s return to classes in a new back-to-school guide.
The province released new guides with a wide array of information for parents and guardians on things like how to properly use face masks and how to screen kids for symptoms before sending them to school.
Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen will speak about the information at a news conference at 12:15 p.m., which will be live streamed here.
The guides also include information for parents about how things will change if their kids’ schools are upgraded to a different level under the province’s colour-coded pandemic response system, which has four levels: limited risk (green), caution (yellow), restricted (orange) and critical (red).
Right now, most of the province is classified under the caution, or yellow, level. Some exceptions include the Prairie Mountain Health region (which is under the restricted, or orange, level) and several personal care homes with cases of COVID-19 (which are under the critical, or red, level).
Manitoba schools are opening under the caution level — even those in the restricted-level Prairie Mountain Health region. The caution level means masks are required for students in grades 4 to 12 and there is blended at-home and in-class learning for high school students.
If any of the province’s schools are upgraded to the restricted level, there will be stricter rules, including scaling back in-class learning for high school students, reduced capacity on school buses and possible changes to mask recommendations across the board.
Under the critical level, buses will stop running, almost all students will be learning remotely and schools will be closed to the public, except for children of critical workers from kindergarten to Grade 6.
Parents in Manitoba have already been getting more information this week about what the Sept. 8 return to classes will look like at their kids’ schools.
In the Pembina Trails School Division, students who live with someone who has a compromised immune system will now have the option to access remote learning this school year, the division said on Monday.
That was a departure from the province’s Aug. 24 back-to-school plan, which only allowed that option for students who were immunocompromised themselves.
Parents of nearly 300 students in the Louis Riel School Division learned last week that their kids will go to different schools this fall to create space for physical distancing.
Face masks are also now mandatory for students in all grades on the bus, the province said on Tuesday. Previously, the plan was to only require students in Grade 4 and up to wear face coverings while on board.
