What to expect for back-to-school in Waterloo region

With just over two weeks until children return to school, whether in person or virtually, parents and caregivers are making decisions beyond what shoes to buy or what to pack in lunches.

This year will be very different for students as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and there are concerns about a potential second wave.

Parents are also making decisions on the best masks for their children and whether they want to put students on the bus or consider other options.

School is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8. Local officials have weighed in on a number of the questions parents and caregivers have right now about the staggered start to the school year, masks, transportation, nutrition programs, new hires and exact details.

Staggered start to school year

Waterloo Region District School Board says it's considering a staggered start to the school year.

"We will communicate these details with staff and families once our plan for the staggered entry is confirmed," board spokesperson Alana Russell said.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board says there will be a staggered start to the school year.

"We need time to re-schedule and reconfigure our virtual school and we know that our youngest students will benefit from a little more time to get acclimatized to their new routines, so we will transition them in twogrades at a time day by day, starting with our youngest," the board's chief managing officer John Shewchuk said.

"Our secondary schools are going back on an adapted model which is already half the number of students, and most of our grade nine [students]are experiencing our Head Startprogram next week, so they will not begin on a staggered start."

Teachchildren about masks

Region of Waterloo acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang saysyounger students should be wearing masks.

The province mandates students in Grade 4 and up must wear masks inside school. The Waterloo Region District School Board has mandated all students must wear masks when they return to in-person learning.

"I strongly encourage children in all grades be masked," Wang said Tuesday. "Each board will have to decide what is best for them, but I strongly encourage it."

Staff with the Waterloo Region District School Board told trustees this week they have set aside $1.4 million to buy reusable masks for students.

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board is currently following the regulations set out by the province, but there is a board meeting Monday night where the issue could be raised.

Premier Doug Ford said there are concerns younger students will fiddle with their masks, making them less effective at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

Read more:

• All students required to wear masks at Waterloo region's public schools this fall
• Masks will be required for all students in Upper Grand District School Board
• Parent prep: Teach kids about masks, understand atypical symptoms before school starts

Transportation options

For children who live close to their schools, it's often a simple walk to the playground. But for people who live farther away, students generally ride the bus. That's causing some concern for parents who are worried about crowded buses.

For those who will still need to use the bus, Benoit Bourgault, general manager of Student Transportation Services Waterloo Region, says students should start learning a before-bus routine now.

"It's important that they practice wearing a mask and ensure that they have good hand hygiene before they get to the bus," he said. "Before you leave the home, wash your hands, put a mask on and keep your mask on all the way to school."

Bourgault says parents who don't want their children to take the bus should fill out a "do not ride form" available through the transportation service's website.

For the parents opting not to put their children on a bus, Cycle WR wants them to consider active transportation options over driving to the school for drop off and pick up.

David Trueman is the group's interim chair. He says Cycle WR is hoping to work with parents to develop personalized routes to make walking, cycling or scootering to school a better option.

"You can get to school, you can get fresh air and exercise on the way there and on the way home. And studies have shown that that leaves kids with a better frame of mind for learning they're mentally better prepared for school if they have that active transportation to get there," Trueman said.

He added thinking of other options will really help children grow.

"Active transportation builds in kids independence and resilience. These are skills and habits that are so valuable in the coming decades. And what more could we want for our children than resilience," he said.

Nutrition programfaces challenges

Educators know some students come to school hungry. Programs like Nutrition for Learning gives healthy snacks and foods to students in 149 schools in the region.

The group is currently prepping for the first couple of weeks of school and normally they would have volunteers attend the schools to make sure classrooms would get these healthy snacks.

Mary D'Alton,in charge of strategic initiatives for the group, says this year the program will look different. One big change is that the volunteers won't be able to enter the school.

"We still have a lot of things to iron out over the next couple of weeks, but we have a general plan," D'Alton said. "Initially we're going to start very small and simple and hopefully build that out and always with the knowledge that even two months into this, we may have to flip the switch again over a weekend."

D'Alton says the plan is to go from 2,500 packages dropped off at schools each week to 60,000.

Her biggest concern is that a lot of volunteers will be needed to package all the items for the schools. She said they're hoping to set up a few "bagging centres" in the community to make it easier for volunteers to help out.

She says financially, "we're going to do our best and we'll go as long as we have money to pay for the food." She says they just need to make sure everything they're doing is safe and that children can still have the snacks.

Expect more staff in schools

The province is providing funding for more public health nurses to work with schools to help prevent COVID-19 from entering the school and managing the situation if it does.

Wang said the region is expecting to receive funding for about 20 new nursing positions. It would be difficult to hire and train everyone within the next two weeks, so Wang says for now, the region is redeploying public health nurses in other roles to help schools in the coming weeks.

How will in-class and remote learning work?

Each school board is working on various plans about how in-class and remote learning will work and it may be further adapted for individual schools.

Parents and caregivers should check emails and voicemails for more details related to individual schools.

Specific details are available or will be in the next two weeks on the board websites.

• Waterloo Region District School Board
• Waterloo Catholic District School Board
• Conseil Scolaire Mon Avenir
• Conseil Scolaire Viamonde