Saskatoon school boards sticking to in-person learning for now

Schools in Saskatoon aren’t planning on moving students out of the classroom anytime soon as COVID-19 variants of concern continue to spread across the province.

The province reintroduced restrictions limiting bubbles to immediate household members only Tuesday and listed Saskatoon as a community where variants of concern were rising Monday.

Even with those new developments, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools (GSCS) and Saskatoon Public Schools are sticking to current protocols based on recommendations by local public health officers.

“At this time, we don’t have any plans to switch to full online learning, but as we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, we know that can change quickly,” GSCS communications consultant Derrick Kunz said.

“We’ll continue to consult with our health officials on that, and we are prepared to make that switch, if necessary.”

Elementary schools for the Catholic and public school boards are currently operating at Level 2, or full in-class learning with strict health measures. High schools are at Level 3, a hybrid in which classes alternate between online and in-person learning.

“Throughout this school year, our school division has made decisions and adapted operations quickly to best support our school communities. The Saskatchewan Health Authority will continue to monitor Saskatoon and area health data and, if warranted, the school division will move to Level 4,” Saskatoon Public Schools spokesperson Veronica Baker said.

In a letter to parents and caregivers on Monday, Saskatoon Public Schools warned about increased COVID-19 spread, including the variants of concern.

Since the start of the school year in September, Saskatoon Public Schools has had 282 positive cases at 55 locations in the school division.

Kunz said there is no threshold or determining factor to introduce changes, only the advice of health officials.

Since January, roughly 375 students in the Catholic system have opted to return to the classroom from online learning, Kunz said.

The public system didn’t have an exact number available as students were given the option to transition between in-class and online learning on a variety of dates.

Following the guidance of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, both school systems are aware of rising COVID-19 cases and are ready to make a switch if needed.

“We see how the variants of concern have taken hold in other parts of the world, country and even our province, and we realize that we’re not immune to that possibility of them becoming more prevalent here,” Kunz said.