The New Westminster School District is working hard to make sure local families are taken care of during the COVID-19 pandemic – and not just with online learning.
A report from superintendent Karim Hachlaf that’s on the agenda for tomorrow’s (April 21) school district operations policy and planning committee meeting notes a number of the endeavours being undertaken by the school district to support its families since the end of March break – when the provincial government announced the suspension of in-class instruction.
The district sent out a survey to families to find out their needs with regards to child care, food, learning and technology, and it received more than 4,000 answers from parents. In response, it set up a number of programs to help look after local families’ needs.
Among them:
CHILD CARE
The school district has set up six child-care and learning centres, five of those in partnership with the Westminster Children’s After School Society, which runs the regular before- and after-school care centres at New Westminster’s elementary schools.
Children are being looked after by both society and school district staff, with child-care staff working alongside teachers and educational assistants.
So far, spaces are being offered to “Tier 1” essential service workers (such as health-care workers and emergency responders). The district is currently providing support to more than 50 families, according to a report from superintendent Karim Hachlaf that’s on the agenda for tomorrow’s (April 21) school district operations policy and planning committee meeting.
The school district will now phase in care for the children of Tier 2 workers (other essential service workers that aren’t included in the Tier 1 grouping), as well as vulnerable populations, plus supports for students who need special assistance.
MEALS
The school district has more than 100 students and families who have asked for assistance with meals. On April 16, the district started a daily lunch service for students that’s available for pickup. It’s being supported with district kitchen and administrative staff.
TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING
The school district has loaned out more than 500 Chromebooks to students and families in need of technology to help support the ongoing remote and online learning plans.
The school district is taking a phased approach to online learning, with the first phase (running from March 30 to April 3) designed to connect parents and students with staff.
In Phase 2, happening now, the district’s goal is to further develop remote learning using platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom. It’s also working on structures to support pickup of take-home materials and resources.
In the third phase, the district will extend and evaluate remote learning.
“As students become more deeply engaged in learning tasks and with each other, we will also be focused on structures to support parent communication in order to provide progress updates leading to issuing report cards,” Hachlaf’s report reads.
The Record will report more on these programs following the April 21 meeting.
The meeting is happening online via Webex. See the link at https://newwestschools.ca/our-board/meeting-agendas-minutes-motions/
