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According to a district-wide survey of Richmond parents, most plan to send their children back to school next week for in-person instruction.
Photo by Jaana Björk
Most Richmond parents will send kids back to school next week
By Hannah Scott (Local Journalism Initiative reporter) and Lorraine Graves
Published 4:05 PDT, Wed September 2, 2020
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A majority of Richmond parents plan to send their children back to school next week, according to a recent survey.
Superintendent Scott Robinson shared the results at yesterday’s Richmond COVID-19 Community Task Force meeting.
Among parents of elementary school-aged children who responded, 62 per cent said they planned to send their children back to traditional in-school learning. A further 37 per cent of parents are choosing the temporary remote learning option, which enables their child(ren) to retain their place at their local school.
Three dates will be designated between now and the end of January for those students to return to school. By the end of January they must either return to school for face-to-face instruction or withdraw and lose their place.
The remaining parents of elementary students, who total less than one per cent of respondents, are choosing either homeschooling or distance learning.
Parents of high schoolers are overwhelmingly in favour of a return to school, according to survey responses. Ninety-three per cent of respondents are choosing this option, and an additional six per cent chose distance learning.
Less than one per cent of parents are choosing homeschooling for their teens. Homeschooling does not enable students to earn a BC graduation certificate.
The school district is also looking into a temporary remote learning option for secondary schools, but staffing poses a problem. Individual families can contact the district to learn more.
All students and staff will participate in health and safety orientations next week, said superintendent Scott Robinson. And if there’s a diagnosed COVID-19 case in a school, the district will work with that school and public health teams to determine next steps.
“We’re very excited to welcome our students back to school next week,” said Robinson.
But he added that there is a ‘worst-case scenario’ plan if schools are forced to close suddenly.
“If public health authorities direct us back to stage 3, all districts and impacted areas would do that,” he said. “We tried to include flexibility in our plan, if kids need to go back home to learn.”
The district is working to make sure technology is available to all those in need, as well as assisting teachers with relevant trainings on Zoom and other remote learning tools.
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