As January draws to a close, superintendent Peter Jory says the first month of 2022 was an eventful one in School District 69 (Qualicum).
In an email to PQB News, he wrote the delay of schools reopening during the first week of the month allowed school district staff to plan and prepare.
“Staff, principals, and site managers were able to meet and work from a list of revised provincial recommendations to adjust their safety plans and reinstate a number of measures that they felt would best mitigate against the increased transmission rate of the Omicron variant,” he wrote, adding the week went a long way toward lowering anxiety across the district.
Staff planning included preparing for higher rates of student absenteeism and for the possibility of functional closures.
READ MORE: PQBeat: Talking 2022 with Peter Jory, superintendent for School District 69 (Qualicum)
Jory said there was a consideration of redeploying staff to different locations, should the district face challenges at a particular site. However, despite staff attendance at several schools being down due to illness or self-isolation, replacements are still available and that no school, to date, has reached the threshold to consider staff redeployment or a functional closure.
Throughout SD69, student and staff attendance has been fairly steady, despite pockets of higher absenteeism, and overall student attendance has been consistent with Januaries of previous years. District elementary schools saw approximately 80 to 90 per cent of students present, and secondary schools saw 70 to 80 per cent.
As mentioned in an previous interview with PQB News, Jory said that mask uptake is higher in SD69 than in other regions, with most schools well over 90 per cent in participation.
“In regard to the comments about mask wearing… they are considered mandatory. As educators we do not believe in exclusion, and the ministry (of education) was very clear about their position regarding exclusion. Therefore, we are in a position where we need to use our relationships, reason, data and these types of strategies to convince everyone to be a part of the community. However, at the end of the day, some parents are still not allowing their children to wear masks, and there is not much more we can do about that,” he said.