Last week’s full resumption of instruction at Houston and Smithers public schools went well with no outbreaks of illness from COVID-19 that might have forced a return to online classes.
“We have had staff absences this week due to illness, but I would say not more than a year when we have a flu strain moving through the community,” said School District 54 Superintendent Mike McDiarmid late last week.
“So as an average we might have three-four staff away at any school right now and that would also be true for our custodial, bus driver and maintenance staff.”
Measures such as intensified cleaning, social distancing, increasing spaces between desks, staggering lunch hours and break times and avoiding large gatherings were also introduced when full instruction returned Jan. 10.
“Many of the measures were, in fact, reintroduced from earlier in the pandemic, so students and staff were familiar with many of the measures and adjusting to them was easier,” McDiarmid said.
Last week’s full resumption of schooling followed a limited one-week opening following the Christmas break in which only children of essential workers and students requiring extra supports were in attendance.
That was to limit the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant and to give time for schools to prepare for a full reopening.
As of last week, McDiarmid said there is varying attendance at the district’s schools because of illness but also because some cautious parents are keeping their children at home.
”We have had a couple of schools around the 20 per cent absentee mark but again, not all absences were due to illness,” he noted.
There is no set percentage threshold of absences that would trigger an order by health authorities to close schools but absentee levels are being reported regularly.
“The district might choose to move to a functional closure and remote learning if we cannot replace enough staff who are away,” McDiarmid said.
During the latest reporting period (Jan. 2 - 8) in the Smithers Local Health Area (Houston to Witset), Northern Health reported 196 new cases of COVID-19, a record high for the LHA.
At the beginning of the school year, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry warned employers including school districts to expect as much as one-third of their workforce to be away at any given time.