The Director of Education for the Hastings Prince Edward School Board joined Lorne Brooker to discuss the return to school this fall.
Sean Monteith says although things have been difficult, he has been impressed in the planning and execution.
“I think we need to compare and be relative to how other jurisdictions have done and fared in the province. We have a a good size district. We have managed to create, prepare a virtual school environment, which, as of the end of this week, will have almost 2,500 students in it from scratch.”
He adds to date, they have had no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in staff or students.
“Really have had six weeks of instruction, kids in school, staff in school, and at the end of this week all of our secondary school students, with maybe the odd exception, will have earned their first credit, as part of our unique octomester model.”
The challenge has been to keep people safe, however a runny nose, or seasonal cough was forcing families into hardship at times.
“Kids that were demonstrating or exhibiting symptoms that they would any other October, they would go with the entire family to a testing centre. The whole family would get tested, they wait for the results. They could be waiting three to four days. That means the parents, who may both are employed or both working are staying home . The kids are staying home. Well the majority of cases there was no COVID exposure.”
You can hear the full interview below
