30% student absenteeism pushes South Island school to the brink
Many families are relieved to have their kids back at school, but after just eight days back, it's already clear that in person learning may not last at all schools across Vancouver Island.
At École John Stubbs Memorial School in the Sooke School District, absenteeism amongst students was at 30 per cent Wednesday, compared to the district’s average this week of 16 per cent, or the average of seven per cent last year.
Not all of those current absences are due to illness, but many are. The school hasn’t been ordered closed yet, but the district’s Supt. Scott Stinson says it’s planning to bring in extra custodians to keep it especially sanitized.
“We certainly are treating this very seriously,” said Stinson Wednesday. “At this point, the advice we have from public health, from the (medical health officer), is the school is not at the point where we would need to close it.”
A handful of schools across B.C. have already been temporarily closed to in-person learning due to a shortage of staff. On Wednesday, two schools in Abbotsford were closed for the week.
No such closures have happened in Vancouver Island yet, but the chair of the Sooke School District, Ravi Parmar, says he is very concerned that a shortage of custodians and bus drivers might trigger a functional closure.
“We have a couple positions that we’re very, very short on, and can’t rely on extras for — one is bus drivers and the other is custodians,” said Parmar. “I’m very nervous on the custodian and bus driver front."
Meanwhile, in Victoria, where student attendance was close to normal for the first week back, Winona Waldron, the president of the Greater Victoria Teachers' Association, worries new guidance that students and staff can return to school once their symptoms largely clear up may lead to the spread of COVID-19 cases in schools. She thinks a closure for some classes is likely in the coming weeks.
“Unless numbers, COVID numbers in the community significantly decrease, I think we're likely to see some sort of closure,” she said Wednesday.
There’s no specific threshold for when health authorities or school districts would close a school for in-person learning and shift online, but the districts say they’re pulling out all the stops to keep kids in the classroom.
“Prior to us having to do a functional closure, we would have to deploy every teacher that we have in the school district — that would include associate superintendents (and) myself,” said Stinson, who, like many, hopes the district can ride out the worst of this wave and keep students in the classroom.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Ont., Hamilton, Ont., Brampton, Ont., and Montreal.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Record-breaking N.B. lottery winner kept winning ticket on dresser for nearly a year
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
A dog and a bird formed an unlikely friendship. Their separation has infuriated followers
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 mm among weather alerts in effect for 7 provinces
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres, air quality advisories and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.