Making Schools Safe for Students

As school staff prepare for the return to school, they are responding to questions from parents and caregivers, who want to know how their children will navigate hallways and handwashing, how ventilation systems and other school systems will keep students safe during this time of pandemic.

Barb Hamblett is the Principal at Valleyview Secondary, one of the largest, most crowded schools in the district. She outlined ways VSS is changing to keep students safe, and said schools are able to provide safe learning spaces by following the health and safety guidelines. She said numerous changes including locker policies, staggered breaks, the use of masks, handwashing and keeping hallway traffic to a minimum will all be in place when school opens.

“Looking at all the work we have done to put in the health and safety protocols in place, I have to say, it’s pretty similar to what we have everywhere. Getting on a plane, going for groceries -what will be happening in schools will be more controlled,” she said.

“When you go into a grocery store, you don’t go in through a controlled group. They limit the numbers, but they don’t have control groups. In schools, we can put in more measures so we can really see who our kids are interacting with. We can keep track of them better.”

Lockers

Lockers will not be made available to students for at least the first month of school. The intention is for students to carry everything they need in backpacks for the day to remove the need to congregate in hallways.

“At VSS, students will only have two blocks, two courses at a time, so students will be able to carry their personal items around in a backpack,” said Hamblett. “Not using lockers will help lower traffic in the hallways.”

Breaks

There will be multiple, staggered breaks, so students will not all be out in the hallway at the same time, and students will be encouraged to be outside as much as possible on their breaks.

Masks

Even with minimized traffic, students will be using hallways, and they will be expected to use masks.

“That’s the reality,” Hamblett said. “We have to move through our spaces, just like at Walmart, we have to move through our spaces safely. This is going to help us get there.”

Handwashing and Washroom Capacity

Students will be taken through health and safety training on the first day. They will be expected to wash their hands when they come into the building, when they leave the building, and throughout the day. Hamblett says staggered breaks will help with that. Students will need to respect the ‘maximum capacity’ numbers posted on washroom doors.

If a Student is Ill at School

If a child or staff member becomes symptomatic, they will be required to put on a mask right away, and then go to the schools’ designated medical space. Parents will be contacted immediately, and asked to come and pick up their student. Parents will be asked to seek assessment by their health care provider, which could include calling 811.

“The health authority, through an 811 call, or through a family’s health practitioner, will guide the parent through the next steps,” Hamblett said. “The child would stay at home until we hear back from the health authority that they can come back to school once they are no longer symptomatic.”

Ventilation

Valleyview’s HVAC ventilation system was replaced a few years ago, and the system is regularly maintained.

“I have complete confidence in our HVAC system, maintenance staff check often to keep the airflow working well,” said Hamblett. “I think it’s better maintained than the one in my own home.”

Safe Support

Making sure students have access to their counselors is important. Program changes, emotional support, those are their go-to people. In a busy school, we want to make sure we can do that safely. Counselors will meet with students in a variety of ways. Face-to-face meetings will be done using masks. For students who have questions about programming, counselors are looking at connecting in other ways, including by phone.

“It’s effective, it saves time, kids are heard immediately, and it clears the space around the counselor’s office.

“I feel very confident that our kids will be safe,” she said. “I trust implicitly the information that is coming from public health. They have a much broader lens than we do. Dr. Bonnie Henry has led this province well, and I have a lot of faith in what she says about getting kids back to school. We are going to do so safely, responsibly, but this is absolutely the right thing to do for our society.”