August 14, 2020

Families,

This afternoon, Zach Churchill, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development and Dr. Robert Strang, Chief Medical Officer of Health provided an update on Nova Scotia’s Back to School plan.

Today’s update included the following information:

• All students in grades 4 to 12 will be required to wear a mask inside school except if they are seated at their desks while two metres apart and facing in the same direction. Masks must be worn in hallways and other common areas if a two-metre distance cannot be maintained.

• School-by-school ventilation maintenance will take place to ensure equipment is operating properly and in good condition.

• Masks and hand sanitizer are starting to arrive at schools. (Click on the attached picture if you are curious to see what a month’s supply of hand sanitizer looks like for a region our size!)

• All students and staff will receive two free cloth masks. Disposable masks will also be available if a student forgets or loses their mask during the school day.

• Before and after school programs will be offered in accordance with public health guidelines.

• Schools, with the support of public health, will notify families as soon as they become aware of a COVID-19 case in their school, along with what measures will need to be taken.

• A return to school sport schedule and protocols that follow public health guidelines are in the final stage of development with Sport Nova Scotia and will be sent to schools by the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation.

To read the news release, click here.  You can also watch a replay of today’s announcement on the government YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-QHDGZk5M

Additional resources for families and students are available at: www.novascotia.ca/backtoschool.    

Getting Ready for Opening
Plans are progressing for the opening of schools on September 8.

Annually, summer is the busiest time of the year for our Operations Services Department. Schools are thoroughly cleaned, construction projects big and small are undertaken, and student bus routes are created. Click here to learn more about some of the work our Operations team have completed.

Our Operations team have also been at the forefront of implementing COVID-19 protocols – placing signage in schools for entering and exiting, posting reminders for good health practices like frequent hand washing and installing hand sanitizer stations in all schools. In addition, our IT department has prepared 5,000 additional computers for student use.
                                                                                                                                                                                
Next Steps
We will continue to share system and provincial updates, including if there are any future changes to Public Health guidelines. You can anticipate another update from the HRCE before the end of August.

Principals and vice-principals are finalizing school-level plans. Information about specific school-level routines will be shared by Principals starting the week of August 24. 

We are excited to welcome students back to school on September 8th!

Elwin LeRoux
Regional Executive Director of Education