1 Dear Parents/Caregivers,: Welcome back to Lester B Pearson School. We are extremely excited to have our students re-integrate into the school as they join us for the 2020-21 school year. There is no doubt that school will look a little bit different than in the past however as a staff, we believe that good planning and thought has gone into our re-opening plan. Although our main focus for school start up is to ensure the safety of all of our students, staff, and educational community, our goal still remains the same: to ensure that our student receive the best possible learning experience that we can provide. Please read the following information which will help you understand the changes that will be in place as we start up a new school year. Family Contact A staff member should have contacted you by phone or e-mail to welcome you back, ease your concerns and ask about your students(s) intentions for next year. If there hasn’t been any communication please contact the school at 306.683.7350 or e-mail [email protected]Lester B. Pearson School Re - Opening Plan August 26, 2020 3620 Centennial Drive Saskatoon, SK S7L 5L2 Phone: (306) 683-7350 Fax: (306) 657-3926 www.spsd.sk.ca Mr. Shane Bradley Principal Ms. Carey Blatchford Vice Principal Mr. Mitch Kachur Superintendent Ms. Donna Banks Trustee We are a PROUD community of learners striving to achieve success by engaging in the love of learning. Let’s Be PROUD! Posive Respecul and responsible Opportunies for all United Diverse
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Dear Parents/Caregivers,:
Welcome back to Lester B Pearson School.
We are extremely excited to have our students re-integrate into the school as they
join us for the 2020-21 school year. There is no doubt that school will look a little
bit different than in the past however as a staff, we believe that good planning and
thought has gone into our re-opening plan. Although our main focus for school
start up is to ensure the safety of all of our students, staff, and educational
community, our goal still remains the same: to ensure that our student receive the
best possible learning experience that we can provide. Please read the following
information which will help you understand the changes that will be in place as
we start up a new school year.
Family Contact
A staff member should have contacted you by phone or e-mail to welcome you
back, ease your concerns and ask about your students(s) intentions for next year.
If there hasn’t been any communication please contact the school at 306.683.7350
Please refer to the Parent and Caregiver Reopening Handbook for general information on Saskatoon Public Schools reopening plan. It is available on our school and division’s website (search LesterbPearsonschool or Sas-katoon Public Schools) and is attached to this email. This parent handbook provides detailed information on many important topics including:
Safety Precautions Curriculum and Assessment Support Services Food and nutrition programs Facilities Students.
The guidelines of the Parent Handbook will be adhered to by our school along with elements specific to our school.
The following information represents our school specific plan for a safe return to school at Lester B Pearson Elementary School. Please note that the plan is subject to change at any time based on di-rection from Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer. Changes will be communicated as they occur.
To start off the school year the following safety precautions and protocols will be in place:
If your child is showing symptoms of Covid, it is the responsibility of the caregiver to keep him/her at home until the type of sickness has been determined. Please refer to the parent re-opening handbook for symptoms and information regarding who to contact. Please contact the school at 306.683.7350 or e-mail [email protected] to let us know that your student will not be attending due to health reasons.
If a student becomes ill or shows symptoms of illness, he/she will be placed in an isolation room near the front doors of the school. A parent/caregiver will be contacted and must pick the student up from school expediently. Staff cannot transport students. Admin-istration must report the sickness to the Health Authority for follow up. It is likely that
the student will not be allowed to return to school until a doctor’s note is provided. If a student shows symptom of illness due to other factors (ex. Allergies) a doctor’s note explaining the nature of the symptoms and reason must be provided to the school. Note that we will be hypervigilant in send-ing a student home if symptoms are present as we are not medical practitioners. Please see the Parent handbook for further information and clarification. At this time, caregivers and/or visitors will not be allowed to enter the building unless they have an appointment which has been approved by admin-istration. If a caregiver/visitor does enter the build-ing, he/she will be required to use a mask, sanitize and fill out an on-line health check (a poster with a QR code will be on the front door which will al-low access to the health check or a hard copy will be available at the front office).
Bell times will remain the same with the exception of Prekindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms. Those schedules will be shared with parents by the classroom teacher on Sept. 2nd or 3rd.
Due to accessibility to the school and supervision, students cannot be dropped off more than 10 minutes before the morning bell (8:25 a.m.). Doors to the school will be locked with the exception of the front door for safety issues.
If your child is late to the school, they will need to enter the front door of the school and go directly to their classrooms. Late slips will no longer be used so teachers will be responsible to let the office know that a student has arrived late.
8:35 a.m. Welcome bell rings
8:40 a.m. Second bell rings and classes begin
11:30-12:20 p.m. Lunchtime
12:20 p.m. Bell rings and classes begin
3:05 p.m. Dismissal
Recess
Due to current guidelines, recesses will be staggered but will continue to be 15 minutes in length. A maxi-mum of 2 classrooms will be allowed in an identified outdoor play area or zone.
Recess times will be determined once we know our enrolment and classroom dynamics
At this time, LBP and Father Vachon will create a schedule for using the red and green playgrounds. One school will have access to one play structure for a week and the other will have access to the other play structure. This will flip on a weekly basis. Please note that there is no plan from the school divi-sion to clean these play structures so students must sanitize prior to and after usage.
Regardless of the play area or zone, students will be required to sanitized prior to and directly after recess.
Lunch
In order to limit interactions and social contact students are strongly encouraged to go home for the lunch period wherever possible. If a student does leave for lunch and comes back to the school during lunch hour recess, they will be required to sanitize prior to engaging with their cohort. Parents must send a note to school or contact the teacher to let him/her know that the student has permission to leave cam-pus during lunch.
Sanitizer will be available from the lunch supervisors or at a sanitizing station. If a student returns for the afternoon bell, they will be required to meet their class at their meeting point and enter the building through their designated entryway.
Students will eat in their classrooms. Shared lunchroom equipment and materials will not be accessible (ex. Microwave oven, condiments, etc.). Accordingly, students should not bring food that needs heat-ing as it will not be available. Creative solutions such as thermoses should be considered.
Please plan to send your child with their lunch every morning. Dropping off lunches at lunch time is dis-couraged since visitors are not allowed in the school at this time.
Changes to Nutrition Programs Our plan at this point in time is to provide snacks and lunches to those students in need. In order to follow
nutrition protocol, food will be served in individual portions (ex. Bagged lunch). Sharing food, com-munal meals and buffet style serving is not allowed. Students are also not allowed to be involved in
meal preparation or serving of food.
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Entering the School
At all times, students will enter and exit the school through the same door. Classes will meet in a proxi-mal spot close to their door where a staff member will meet them to allow entry into the school.
Meeting points will be shared when a teacher contacts student on Sept 2nd or 3rd. At all times, students must sanitize as they enter the school. If a caregiver (or older sibling) is picking up or dropping off a younger student, it must occur prior to en-
tering the building at the younger students meeting point. If the caregiver is a student at LBP, they must travel outdoors to their meeting point to enter the building.
An example of entry and exit points is below: - Front door for PreK/K/Grades 1,2 - Jr. Boot room for Grades 3,4 - Sr Boot room for grades 5/6 - East gym side door for grades 7/8 Note- entry groupings will be based on classroom teachers and may not be subject to specific grades as
there is the potential for split grade classrooms.
Bussing
Students who arrive and depart school by bus will be subject to the rules of the bussing company. This information will be shared by the bus company prior to the start of the school year.
When students are dropped off in the a.m., they must go directly to their meeting point to enter the school. For pick up in the p.m., students will leave the school through their designated door and travel outside to
the bus loading area at the front of the school.
Parking and Student Drop-off/Pick-up
*In following the “move to grow” ideology, we would hope that students could find an active way to get to school and return home (walk, bike, scooter, skateboard, etc.). *If a parent must drop off their student(s) by vehicle, DO NOT pull into the staff parking lot as the front of the school will be a meeting point for our youngest students. Please drop off at the closest point to your student(s) meeting point or a block or two away to encour age walking and limit traffic congestion around the school. These would include: - Middle years – use the back alley at the East side of the school - Primary – use Centennial Drive (please avoid parking in the bus zones or you may get ticketed)
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Staggered Registration As per our earlier communication, we will be using a staggered start during the week of Sept 8 – 11.
Pre-Kindergarten / Kindergarten Staggered Starts
Staggered starts will be the week of September 8 to September 11.
All Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students will attend ONE half day staggered start day.
Kindergarten families will be contacted on Wednesday Sept 2 or Thursday Sept 3 to let them know when they are scheduled for their half day start and the meeting point for the first day.
Ms. Schow will be contacting Pre-Kindergarten families on Wednesday Sept 2 or Thursday Sept 3 to let them know when they are scheduled for their half day start and the meeting point for the first day.
Grade 1-8 Staggered Starts Staggered starts will be the week of September 8 to September 11.
All Grade 1 – 8 students will attend TWO full days during the week of September 8-11. Classes will be broken
into Cohorts A & B.
*Cohort A will attend full days on Tuesday, September 8 and Thursday, September 10
*Cohort B will attend on Wednesday, September 9 and Friday, Sept 11
Classroom teachers will be contacting families on Wednesday, September 2 or Thursday, September 3 to share
your students’ days for staggered start and the meeting point for the first day.
Storage of Student Materials
We are planning on using lockers for student storage and will create a plan to minimize student contact and maintain distancing Classroom equipment will be housed in their desk or an individual storage bin provided by the teacher. Due to space restrictions, teachers may request that their students only bring certain supplies at the start of the school year. Please note that sharing of school supplies is not permitted at this time. Accordingly, please ensure that each individual item is labeled with the student’s name with a permanent marker. School supply lists are available on our school website.
Flow of Traffic Through the School.
Arrows and social distancing stickers will be placed throughout the school to help students travel throughout the building in an effort to minimize physical contact Washrooms will be designated to 1-2 classrooms and will be cleaned and sanitized on an ongoing basis. Students will only be allowed to use their designated bathroom to ensure increased cleanliness.
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Parent/Caregiver Access to School
Parents/caregivers are encouraged to contact the main office to make an appointment if they need to come to the school. At this point, we request that this occur only if absolutely necessary. Please contact the office at 306.683.7350 if you would like to inquire about making an appointment. If at all possible, communication will be done by phone or e-mail to minimize the amount of visitors in the school.
If an appointment is made, parents will either have the meeting outdoors or must enter the building through the front door, sanitize their hands and be wearing a mask. They will need to fill out an on-line health check (a poster with a QR code will be on the front door which will allow access to the health check or a hard copy will be available at the front office).
Spadina Daycare Program
If your student(s) access the Daycare program at the school, they will need to travel to and from the day-care directly to and from the classroom or meeting points. More information will be shared regarding lunchtime access.
Hygiene
During the staggered start, staff will spend a considerable amount of time teaching students how to sanitize, wash hands effectively, travel through the school to ensure social distancing and follow classroom rules and protocol. In some cases, students will be ex-pected to clean and sanitize their desks or work areas. If a student shows symptom of illness, the area(s) he/she was in contact with will be sanitized prior to be accessible by other stu-dents or staff. Students need to bring their own water bottles, preferable filled. Students will have access to water via bottle filling stations, how-ever at this time, the drinking fountains have been closed. Families are encouraged to send personal hand sanitizer with their child.
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Mask Usage
*Grade 4-12 students are required to wear masks when appropriate physical distancing cannot be maintained. *Masks are strongly recommended for prekindergarten to Grade 3 students. *We strongly encourage parents to support their students by having them practice wearing masks outside of school hours as well. *Staff are required to wear masks at all times when appropriate distancing cannot be maintained. *When physical distancing is achievable, mask breaks may occur (i.e. outdoor learning). *All students are required to wear masks while riding the bus.
*All visitors must wear masks. *Saskatoon Public Schools will provide one reusable mask for each student. Additional disposable masks will be made available to students when needed and required. *Students are welcome to bring their own masks. *It is the responsibility of the family to ensure that the masks are clean and sanitary. Please ensure that masks are getting washed or replaced on a consistent basis. *In some situations, wearing a mask may not be possible for a student. In these instances, school staff members will work with parents/caregivers to consider accommodations. More information can be found on the CDC website. *Staff members will be provided with a reusable mask and face shield for use as needed. Staff members may also choose to use their own mask. **More information about the proper usage of masks or face coverings is available from the Public Health
Agency of Canada.
Mental Health and Social-Emotional Supports
In addition to the section in the Parent and Caregiver Reopening Handbook on supporting students we want
to make sure that families are aware of that as always, students who need additional support for their well-
being may receive support from the school counsellor. Parents who believe this support may be necessary
can reach out to their teacher or administrator to discuss. The counsellor will work with the team to deter
mine appropriate supports, which may include direct support and/or assisting students and families to access
other services in the community.
Well-being is one of our four student goals in our school division strategic plan. Opportunities to learn about
and practice well-being exist across multiple curricular
areas. Please note that this school specific plan is
