Calgary's K-12 students return to class after holiday break extended by pandemic

Kindergarten to Grade 12 students are heading back to Alberta schools after an extended holiday break due to surging cases of COVID-19.

Alberta is currently dealing with its highest active COVID-19 case count since the start of the pandemic.

Almost half of the province's active cases are in the Calgary zone, which is raising concerns for some parents.

Both the Calgary Catholic School District(CCSD) and the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) said they're putting an emphasis on increasing ventilation and airflow as much as possible to reduce transmission.

The CBE recently posted an update outlining the possibility that schools in Calgary could still potentially shift to online learning depending on staff availability and student absentee rates.

For the CCSD, extra planning has gone into being ready to deal with any curveballs.

"Our staff is amazing here, and they would be able to transition in a second and the district shared some plans on Friday about the threshold of when students may have to go online," said Sheelagh Olson, principal of St. Gianna School in southeast Calgary.

"All of our teachers have Google classrooms set up, they've connected with their students through there all year."

Many Calgary schools are also bracing for a potential lack of bus drivers which could result in last-minute cancellations and delays.

CCSD officials said in a statement Monday afternoon 276 staff members were absent, with 35 per cent of those (about 96) away due to COVID-19. Of those vacancies, 80 per cent were filled with "guest employees" and 20 per cent by "CCSD employees being reallocated."

"We hope that all of our students, teachers and staff who currently have COVID-19/Omicron feel better soon," it read. "We would like to remind all of our students and staff to complete the Alberta Health Daily Checklist screening tool each day and stay home if they are feeling unwell."

CBE offficlas said Monday there were 681 teachers off sick and 208, or 69 per cent of those were not filled.

"We are doing everything immediately possible to remain open for in-person learning, including moving principals and other school-based staff into the classroom, and redeploying learning strategists and area personnel to assist schools in covering unfilled vacancies," read a statement.

"While our current efforts are on meeting instructional needs, we also anticipate issues with filling support staff positions. (Monday) there were 436 support staff absences, with 99 unfilled positions for a fill rate of 87 per cent. As time progresses, unfilled support staff positions such as Education Assistants and lunchroom supervisors will impact the operation of schools.

"The use of positions like principals and learning strategists can be applied for emergent, short-term time periods, but are otherwise not sustainable for individual schools on an ongoing basis in order to uphold our high standards for teaching and learning."

CBE said it is working to continue in-person learning and the decision to move to online learning will be based on staff availability.

"All moves to at-home learning for entire schools or school authorities require approval or direction from the minister of education. Decisions to move individual classes or multiple classes within a school will be decided by CBE administration," read the statement.

"We know the spread of COVID-19 has and will continue to impact staffing levels across the organization. Despite increasing our substitute teacher roster and continuously hiring new substitutes, we anticipate staffing challenges will occur.

"If a class or school is going to be transitioned to online learning, families will receive information from the school directly. While we will attempt to give as much notice to families as possible, these transitions can happen suddenly and with short notice. Families should frequently check their email and/or their school website for updates."

As of noon Monday, "two CBE schools have transitioned a total of five classes (three Grade 6 classes, two Grade 7 classes) to online learning."

The province said Monday it has distributed eight milliion masks to schools, along with four million rapid tests.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to check the CBE website for more information on potential transportation issues and to have a backup plan in place to get their kids to school if their route is cancelled altogether.

The CCSD has also posted updates as well as a handbook for parents and guardians to view on its website.

The province will be distributing rapid test kits and medical-grade masks to schools across the province, but the shipment of those items won't arrive at Calgary schools until the end of the week.

Olson tells CTV News that she's had the chance to speak with some concerned parents to share the CCSD's plan for returning students. She looks forward to connecting with more families as the week moves along.

"I think today will be really telling. It will be good to hear more from the parents. We didn't hear a lot last week, but certainly there are some concerns."

Approximately 38 per cent of children between the ages of five and 11 in Alberta have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Some parents have made the decision to keep their children at home, including Krista Li in Calgary who has a child in Grade 3 and another in Grade 7.

"It was an incredibly difficult decision. It wasn't one that we take lightly," she said.

"As a family we sat down and we weighed the risks, the pros and the cons and for us, there simply are not enough protections in place to keep our children and our teachers and their support staff safe against Omicron in school, there just aren't.” 

Li’s children are in the Catholic system and have missed the deadline to sign up for online learning but she says teachers are doing their best to accommodate them. She says the decision for them to return to school will be made on a week-to-week basis and recognizes she’s fortunate to have that choice.

“It should not come down to parents choosing safety over education, the two should work together,” she said.

“There is so much inequity in public education and it’s a really, really sad feeling to know that I'm privileged enough to keep my kids home and so many parents cannot they do not have that luxury, they do not have that ability. And we are forcing parents into really difficult corners.”