WESTERN QUÉBEC SCHOOL BOARD

Principal Laine’s Weekly Update

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

We are looking forward to welcoming your children back to school on Monday January 17th.

Recent Announcements

Please refer to the attached letter from the WQSB with details from the most recent Press Conference held by Premier Legault.  

Letter from WQSB (English)

Letter from WQSB (French)

I would like to highlight the following key points:

Masks

  • All secondary students must wear procedural masks at all times when inside the building and on school buses
  • We will continue to provide masks for students that need them
  • Students can remove their masks when actively eating or drinking during lunch time – they must be seated
  • We have not been provided with N95 masks

Extra-Curricular Activities

  • All extra-curricular activities are suspended until further notice

Management of Covid-19 Cases

  • Public Health is no longer communicating positive Covid-19 cases to schools
  • Therefore, I will not be able to accurately report the number of cases we have in our school
  • Public Heath is working on a summary of guidelines which is scheduled to be shared with us the week of January 17th

Student Absences

  • If your child is experiencing symptoms, they must immediately isolate for 5 days
  • It is absolutely essential that we all continue to take on the collective responsibility of keeping children at home if they are feeling unwell
  • Please continue to report absences directly to our attendance secretary Ms. Demers at: melaniedemers@wqsb.qc.ca
  • Your child can continue to access asynchronous learning activities/homework through Teams

Rapid Test Kits

  • Secondary schools have not been issued rapid test kits for students

Staff Shortages

  • We are anticipating some challenges with staff absences
  • We are in the process of developing a contingency plan for our school with our efforts focused on keeping students in school
  • It is likely that your child will have supply teachers cover classes more than usual

Carbon Dioxide Sensors

  • Carbon dioxide sensors have been installed in all of our classrooms
  • These sensors measure the quality of air flow within the classroom and readings are sent every 10 minutes to the buildings department at the WQSB
  • If the carbon dioxide levels exceed the recommended level for safe air quality, students will be relocated

Midterms

  • Based on the loss of in-person teaching time, and the anticipated higher rate of student absenteeism, we have cancelled the formal midterm session for our D’Arcy students
  • Teachers will communicate changes to their overall evaluation structure in the absence of midterms directly to students

Report Cards

  • The publishing of report cards has been delayed to January 31st
  • This will provide some additional time for teachers to conduct in-person assessments as necessary

We realize these are challenging times for families and the decision to send your children back to school right now may feel unsettling.  As a parent in the same situation, I completely understand.  Please know that as always, we are committed to providing the safest environment we can for teaching and learning.  We expect that there will be some bumps in the coming weeks.  Please continue to be patient with us as we navigate the changes and hurdles.  It has been a while since I have said this in an update email, but now more than ever, we are truly in this together.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Have a restful weekend.

Tara Laine

Principal

Symmes Junior High School/D’Arcy McGee High School

819-684-7472 x 437001

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