Grade 7-12 students in Flin Flon will be able to head back to class as of next week.
The mandatory two-week post-holiday break remote learning period for students from Grades 7-12 ended at the final school bell Jan. 15, with students now able to come back to their classrooms as of Jan. 18. Remote learning will still be available as an option for Kindergarten-Grade 8 students for the rest of the school year.
"Keeping schools open and safe for students, staff and families is at the forefront of Manitoba Education's COVID-19 response planning," reads a Jan. 12 statement from the provincial education ministry.
"The priority is to have students in classrooms with face-to-face instruction to the greatest extent possible."
The news came down from the provincial education ministry shortly before the Flin Flon School Division board met Jan. 12. Trustees and division staff welcomed the announcement.
"I am happy to announce that Grades 7-12 students are returning January 18. So that is great news, to have them back in and learning," said superintendent Tammy Ballantyne during the board's meeting.
"We've seen how adaptive and creative our staff and students are, working on some sort of remote learning since school has started back up," said board chair Murray Skeavington.
According to statistics from the FFSD, about 18 per cent of Kindergarten-Grade 6 students at Ruth Betts Community School - 36 out of 203 students - were in distance learning, while 25 of 275 students at Ecole McIsaac School in the same grade range - about nine per cent - were learning out of the classroom.
Almost all junior high students at both schools and students at Hapnot Collegiate and Many Faces Education Centre were learning from outside school, except for students without access to reliable internet or devices and students with special needs, who were allowed to return to class in-person.
Decisions on how to roll out the return to class have been left up to local school boards. Within FFSD facilities, that will mean few changes to how schools operated before the holidays.
"We didn't really have to do anything different," said Ballantyne about the change back to in-person classes. No cohort changes or safety measure changes will be in effect for students returning to class - the students will see a similar in-class experience as they did when they went to class before the holiday break.
"The teachers are prepared to accept kids in the classrooms and rather than teaching them through the computers, they can teach them in person. The staff were all hopeful they were able to return on Monday. It will be an easy transition."
While Manitoba remains under "red" designation under the provincial pandemic response system, schools remain an "orange" or restricted level, able to stay open with stringent COVID-19 protocols in place including mask use, cohorts, distancing and frequent hand-washing.
