Principals’ Update – June 22, 2020
What an incredible year this has been. We have appreciated everything you
have done to support your child(ren)’s learning in school and learning
remotely. Your understanding, flexibility and willingness to embrace ambiguity
as we adapt to a new way of being has served your children well.
Report Cards On-Line
It is that time of year to report student achievement through a report card. The
report cards will be available digitally on June 26th
. We are asking you to view
the report card through MyCBE/PowerSchool. Once logged in, you will see an
additional tab titled “Report Card”. Select this tab to view the report card.
Should you wish to have a printed report card, please contact the school to
arrange a time for you to safely collect it from the school on June 29th or 30th.
Re-entry Planning for 2020-21
On June 10, Education Minister, Adriana LaGrange and Chief Medical Officer
of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced the preferred and likely scenario is
that students will return to daily in-school classes in September. The
government will share its final decision by August 1
st regarding which scenario
will be in place at the beginning of the school year. The government has also
provided public health guidance for schools and the measures that would be
required or suggested to reduce risks.
The CBE has a task force responsible for making plans for re-entry. This task
force is preparing for the three different scenarios (normal operations, inschool classes with additional health measures and at-home learning). The
team will consider these new government guidelines and how they will be
implemented in our schools and workplaces. We expect that we may have to
move between scenarios at different points in the year based on government
direction as the COVID-19 situation evolves.
Class Assignments for 2020-21
We are continuing to refine the class lists for 2020-21 with our staff. As you
can imagine, the process for creating these lists is complex. There are a
number of things we need to consider and balance, such as gender, language,
learning complexities and styles, academic achievement, social and emotional
needs, and relationships. We are making plans for re-entry and preparing for
the three different scenarios that will classroom assignments as well.
Prior to school opening on September 1st
, you will receive an email from the
classroom teacher welcoming your child to their class. They will also be giving
you information as to what the re-entry process will look like.
Staffing
At this point in time, we are continuing to staff our school. We are in a position
to hire a part-time Physical Education teacher, a part-time Education Assistant,
and a new Lunchroom Supervisor.
Mrs. Gregoire will be starting her maternity leave shortly. We wish her well as
she welcomes the new addition to her family. She will be on leave for the
2020-21 school year. Sadly, we need to say goodbye to Ms. Brandt and Ms.
Amerongen as their contracts have ended. Both will be joining the substitute
roster and we hope to see them back at Dr. Roberta Bondar School. Don
Lukinuk, our Facility Operator was on leave and has now been detached from
our school. His temporary replacement, Louis Santos has been returned to the
Absence Relief roster. We are pleased to welcome Alex Lee as our new
Facility Operator.
Transportation
Due to the impact of COVID-19 on our system and families, CBE has extended
the transportation pre-registration deadline to June 30, 2020. Register online
using your MyCBE / PowerSchool account.
Reasons to Pre-Register
If you do not pre-register for transportation service prior to the
end of June, we will not include your address as bus routes are
planned. This year, routes will not be posted on our website.
Only registered students will receive stop information for their
primary address. If you do not register, you will not be able to
view a stop location for your child(ren). It may take several
weeks to add a student to a route in the fall, and congregated
stop locations are only reviewed once per year. As a result, your
stop location may be much further away from your home, as
your address was not included in the route planning.
The use of a ZPass ridership card is mandatory to assist in
contact tracing, and only registered riders are provided a ZPass
ridership card. Families may request a replacement card
through their PowerSchool Parent Account.
There is no requirement to pay at the time of registration, and
there is no financial penalty if you register for bus service and
cancel before the cancellation deadline of September 30, 2020.
Radon Testing
Earlier this year, a radon gas study was conducted in 27 CBE schools. This
work was initiated as part of a change in the building code when our new
schools were designed and constructed and included several older schools.
Detectors were placed throughout the school by a certified Radon Professional
and left for about three months between October and March of this school
year. The devices were then sent for analysis.
The CBE Indoor Environmental Quality team received the reports.The results
confirm that the levels in our school are well within the Health Canada
guideline for radon (below 200 Bq/m3) and no further action is required at this
time.
We would like to wish all of our Grade 6 students well as they move on to
Junior High School. If you are moving schools or communities, we hope you
have a good year in your new location.
To all of our families, have a wonderful summer break, and we will see you
back on Tuesday, September 1st!
Laine Mulholland, Principal
Kim Howden, Assistant Principal
