BSD cancels spring break trips
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/03/2020 (2133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Brandon School Division’s board of trustees voted to cancel both spring break trips for students going abroad at Monday’s meeting due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Supt. Marc Casavant and Assistant Supt. Elaine McFazden presented the facts before trustees debated the issue.
Two schools, Vincent Massey High School and École Neelin secondaire High School, were going to be sending students on Europe trips during spring break. Vincent Massey’s travel plans included going to Italy, which is currently undergoing a nationwide lockdown because of a coronavirus outbreak.
Neelin’s trip involved starting in Germany and travelling through several Eastern European countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic. Both trips would have involved going through major international airports.
McFazden said that meetings were held with parents from both schools and support was given to the idea of cancelling plans.
Trustees Kim Fallis, Sherilyn Bambridge and Peter Bartlette expressed that they regretted having to cancel the trip, but it was the safest decision for students involved.
“There are risks of contracting the virus,” chairperson Linda Ross sad. “There are risks of being quarantined.”
The board also passed a motion cancelling all international travel for students going forward due to the outbreak. A decision regarding international for staff and faculty was delayed so that unions representing staff could be consulted first.
Ross asked senior administration to consult with CUPE and the Brandon Teachers’ Association and come back to the board before the end of the week.
Casavant mentioned during the discussion that he has heard of a lot of professional development events for local staff being cancelled, so a decision sooner rather than later is warranted.
After the meeting, Ross said it was a difficult choice to cancel trips that students have been looking forward to for a long time. Casavant added that parents paying for trips would be refunded all but approximately $400 of the total $4,000 cost.
On the subject of preparing for a potential outbreak hitting Manitoba, Casavant said that documentation on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has been shared with faculty.
“In terms of anything else outside of that, we would take our direction from the Chief Medical Officer and comply with whatever they put in place,” Casavant said.
» The Brandon Sun