EMILY HSUEH
PONTIAC Jan. 13, 2021
Elementary schools in Quebec re-opened on Monday, Jan. 11, after being on an extended break since Dec. 16.
Despite the new restrictions in place for the province, elementary schools did not see major changes to their operations. The most significant changes are that students in . . .
grades five and six will now have to wear a mask at all times when at school, and students in grades one through four have to wear them in all common areas, except for outside on school grounds and in their classrooms.
“All the kids from pre-kindergarten right through to grade six, as long as they were in their bubble in their classroom, they could in fact remove their face coverings and masks,” said Stewart Aitken, Director of elementary education at the West Quebec School Board. “When they were out in common areas they had to wear face coverings. So the new restrictions upon return is that all grade fives and sixes must wear face coverings even during class time.”
Aitken is confident in the ability to ensure the tighter restrictions are followed in schools, as face coverings were still necessary in most other situations, thus the changes will not be significant.
“Obviously we are continuing with all the other guidelines we’ve been following all along so it’s not anything new. We’re not too worried about that at all,” he added.
Alina Holmes, a parent and resource teacher at Dr. S.E. McDowell echoed Aitken’s sentiment, telling The Equity that she believes the students and staff at McDowell are prepared and understanding.
“I think that we’ve all adjusted really well to all the measures that have been put in place. I’ve been really impressed with how that has gone. I feel like the environment fostered by the staff is as safe as it can be given the circumstances and that there are definitely a lot of logistical things we have to figure out after the things they announced.”
Both Aitken and Holmes also mentioned that the re-opening of the elementary school is beneficial for the mental health of students as it is clear to them that students thrive in in-person teaching environments.
“I have two perspectives being both a parent and a teacher,” Holmes said, “but from everything that I’ve seen since we went back in May, the children really benefit from in-class school, benefit from the social interaction with their peers, benefit from the face-to-face learning time with their teachers, and they benefit from routine and the structure and the safe space they have at school.”
However, not all students will be returning to school this week. According to Aitken, 257 students in the WQSB will be homeschooled and 397 students have been exempted from returning and will be doing online learning. This is up from the 60 students who were being homeschooled in May. There was no online learning at that time, Aitken said. Combined, approximately 4.6 per cent of the WQSB student body will not return.
Many parents mentioned that they didn’t think it was safe for their children to be around other children at school, which is the cause for the increase in students staying home.
“Whether it’s too early or not we don’t know,” said Aitken. “We all know the lockdown in the spring took a toll on a lot of people and a lot of children, and I’m sure they’re all looking forward to coming back.”
“There’s risks in anything we do right now, but it feels like being in schools is the best possible decision given the current circumstances and I’m grateful that we get to go back,” Holmes said.
