Westman school division partner for remote learning
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/09/2020 (1935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Six Westman school divisions are partnering up to create the “Westman consortia”, which will provide at-home learning support to students who can’t attend classes physically due to health reasons.
The Brandon, Mountain View, Park West, Rolling River, Southwest Horizon and Swan Valley School Divisions are going to provide staff members or financial resources to help kindergarten through Grade 8 students not attending school due to medical advice participate in remote learning.
The announcement was made by Brandon School Division Supt. Casavant at Monday’s board of trustees meeting.
The division is developing responses to children needing remote learning in three different scenarios, Asst. Supt. Mathew Gustafson said.
The first scenario is comprised of students who normally attend classes but periodically miss class because of illness, displaying COVID-19 symptoms or must self-isolate. In this situation, teachers provide remote learning for the duration of the absence.
Second is planning for remote learning in case the school division is put under level orange or higher restrictions under the province’s pandemic response system. With this scenario, teachers would provide remote learning for as long as the more stringent restrictions remain in place.
The final scenario is reflected in the announcement, dealing with students who cannot attend school in person because they are following medical advice, are immunocompromised, or because of concerns regarding another family member in a shared household.
In the final case, Gustafson said that non-classroom teachers would provide remote learning opportunities.
“Students would be assigned to remote learning classrooms, which will be staffed by certified teachers,” he said. “The instructional day will be a combination of synchronous learning, small group learning, individual student-learning conferencing and independent student work.”
He also admitted that the division involved have never done anything like this and are “building the ship as they sail it.”
Teachers in Brandon will be reaching out to students entering the program this week with an expected start date staggered over Sept. 17 and 18.
The division’s other Asst. Supt. Elaine McFadzen added that parents need to understand that not all supports offered by schools will be transferable to remote learning and that parents will need to participate in their children’s remote learning.
Read more in Wednesday’s edition of the Sun.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ColinSlark