Following a full cabinet meeting earlier Thursday, the government has announced they are looking at a 100 per cent ‘student in classroom’ school year.
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Zach Churchill says they will release their full plan next Wednesday.
“Our priority is to have all of our kids back in school, we know that’s where they have the best chance of succeeding and we know that’s really important for families so, our plan, if COVID allows us to, is to have all of our students into a hundred percent capacity with full curriculum and assessment.”
He says they have to build in contingencies to be prepared for any increases in COVID-19.
“The difference, coming into the Fall, is that we’re actually going to have ‘planned responses’, instead of it being a ‘crisis response’ and so we will have the ability to look at localized issues and work with Public Health on the appropriate response.”
Minister Churchill says the decision was made after full consultation with Public Health officials.
“They’re the experts when it comes to the epidemiology of the virus and on the best ways to respond and so they have been at our planning table the whole step of the way as we get ready for September.”
A lot of other people were also consulted before any decisions were made.
“The IWK, the teachers’ union, our principals and VPs, and other public sector unions that represent staff in the education system.”
He says they received over 28,000 responses to a survey from parents and students across the province, along with responses to the results from School Advisory Committees all over Nova Scotia.
Churchill also said that only a few other provinces have announced a return plan for their students so far.
