Schools and daycares in Nova Scotia will not be re-opening before the May long weekend.
Minster of Education and Early Childhood Development Zach Churchill says the government isn’t making decisions like this on their own.
“We’re taking our lead from Public Health and Public Health is monitoring the situation and will inform us if there’s any changes that we can make at this point, so we’re reviewing the situation towards the end of May and we’ll make a determination then.”
He says the government is making their re-opening decisions based on safety recommendations from Public Health.
“The big thing is, when we’re developing out continuity of learning plan, when we’re evaluating the best way to support our students, we have to include Public Health on all those conversations to know that we’re meeting the Public Health standard when it comes to safety.”
Churchill says the province will continue with the home-learning program they have in place for now.
“Our focus is on making sure that grade twelves, in particular, can get their credits to graduate and, of course, we want to support all of our high school students in getting their credits to prepare for higher education, whatever their life’s plans are and we’re doing our best to make sure that that happens.”
The Minister says that the anecdotal feedback on the program is generally positive, although he admits it is a challenge for some families who need extra support and that the department is doing their best to provide the support.
