Demands of pandemic schooling called for innovation, determination

They are tired of being worried about COVID-19. They are tired of juggling work, childcare and remote learning demands, while also monitoring a surge in screen-time. They are tired, put simply, of being tired.

School-year stats

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● At least 4,607 COVID-19 cases were connected to schools since Sept. 10
● Of the total cases, 3,674 involved students and 933 involved staff
● 556 schools had one or more cases throughout the school year
● Six school outbreaks, announced based on public health discretion and indicating at least two epi-linked COVID-19 cases in a school while allowing for transmission in cohorts — which can include up to 75 students, were declared

Asked about how things were going as the school year came to an end in late June, mother Anna Parenteau was blunt.

“I’m exhausted!” she wrote via message. “I can’t wait for school to be done.”

The Milne-Karns and Blum-Paynes echoed the same sentiments, almost word-for-word.

Each family entered the 2020-21 school year with optimism, as well as reservations about their respective plans — whether it involved a home-school bubble, virtual school enrolment or sending a child back to a physical classroom.

Three families make different educational choices during pandemic

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Ten months later, all of their children ended up in front of a screen, with a virtual sign-off replacing a final school bell to mark the end of an academic year during which uncertainty became the only certainty.

Between Labour Day and June 30, there was a switch in education ministers and more than one change in school downgrades on the pandemic response system.

Not long after students in the Manitoba capital began the year in the caution phase (code yellow), at which point two metres of physical distancing was optional, schools were moved to the restricted level (code orange).

They remained in a shade of orange for the majority of the year, although schools finished in remote learning this summer and all but the youngest students were required to stay home for two weeks after winter break.

Three families deal with unsettling, ever-changing schooling

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Anna Milne-Karn plays with her pink Barbie mobile clinic toy after school.

Posted: 7:00 PM Nov. 20, 2020

Thousands of families in the Manitoba capital have received the dreaded letter — stamped with a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority logo in the top left-hand corner — since Sept. 8.

“Dear parent/guardian of students at (X) school, Manitoba public health officials advised (X) school today of a confirmed case of COVID-19,” states the template Dr. Heejune Chang, medical officer of health for the region, is required to sign.

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As variants of the original strain began appearing in schools and staffing shortages became critical in the spring, owing to so many educators being directed to quarantine, the province announced local schools would be going fully remote.

Mothers Luanne Karn and Heather Milne are in agreement the whirlwind of a year, “felt like 10 years — but 10 minutes at the same time.”

For Krystal Payne, the last day of school was yet another reminder of how challenging this year has been for her chatterbox daughter; the nine-year-old was reluctant to tune into a movie screening with her classmates that June afternoon.

“I bet this (report card) is going to be the worst I’ve ever had. I haven’t been doing work very well,” said Emby Blum-Payne, who is frank about her frustrations with virtual school.

While Anna Milne-Karn is headed back to the hallways of École Laura Secord School in autumn, the Blum-Paynes and Parenteaus remain undecided about the respective upcoming academic years at École Sacré-Coeur and Isaac Brock School.

Pandemic forces families to be less concerned about their kids’ time online

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What in-person classes will look like in 2021-22 is to be determined in August, although the province has confirmed it will operate a remote-learning hub for students who are medically advised to stay home.

Parents have legitimate concerns around measures in schools, highly infectious variants and the vaccination status of youth — in addition to existing worries about how uncertainty has and continues to impact their kids’ mental health.

“The priority for Carter and his learning is just making sure he’s OK mentally and emotionally, and all that other stuff. (Academic) catch-up is not even a big deal,” said father Jason Parenteau, who deems this year a success because all of his kids are healthy and safe.

Now, he and the other families are welcoming summer break with open — and, among all the adults, vaccinated — arms.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

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Source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/learning-under-lockdown-574743392.html