January 14, 2022
To Our Border Land School Division Community,
As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic in schools and welcome back all our students on Monday January 17, 2022, we want to share some important information regarding changes you can expect.
Students will be returning to school in the restricted orange level on the provincial pandemic response system. Specific details as to what this means in schools can be found in the January 6, 2022, letter sent by your local school and on the BLSD webpage. Restricted orange has changed from what it was last year. All students will attend full time and are asked to wear a well-fitting three-ply mask or a medical mask. There will be medical masks available at the school locations for those in need. Another shift is always wearing a mask during indoor physical education classes. Teachers will ensure that low-cardio activities are in place while wearing masks.
On January 13, 2022, Manitoba Education and Manitoba Public Health shared changes to case and contact management. Some points to draw to your attention are listed below:
- Schools will no longer provide close contact notification and send letters for school specific cases. Instead, local absenteeism rates due to illness will be shared with families when they vary beyond what is considered normal. When you excuse your child from school, please continue to advise if the absence is due to illness.
- We continue to ask you to report any positive cases to your school. This will enable us to provide accurate information to Public Health should they become involved.
- Public Health will become involved at the school level when absence levels due to sickness are above normal.
- It continues to be most important to have children remain home if they are ill and follow the quarantine and isolation guidelines provided by the Province of Manitoba should your child be ill, be a positive COVID-19 case, or be deemed a close contact.
- Temporary remote learning will be provided for those who are sick and isolating or to a class or cohort if public health determines that is needed.
Thus far into the pandemic, BLSD has seen much success with keeping kids in school. We anticipate that with continued support from our families and the work of our staff that will not change. We also know that there may be changes required as we navigate staff absences. If bus routes need to be amended or canceled or classes shifted, we will work to communicate with families in an efficient and timely way. We are planning for these possibilities, but until we are faced with them directly, many things remain uncertain.
We again thank you for your patience and support as we once again find ourselves in uncertain times. We are excited to welcome back our students and appreciate all the hard work the BLSD staff is doing to keep things as normal as possible for your children.
Yours truly,
Krista Curry
Krista Curry
Superintendent Border Land School Division
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January 6th Return to
School Letter