Spruce Ridge School in Estevan has remained at remote learning this week, due to limited staff availability. The kindergarten-Grade 8 school will return to Level 2 on May 3. Cornerstone director of education Lynn Little said Spruce Ridge remains at remote learning because a number of staff members have been adversely affected by COVID-19. She knows of two who tested positive, while others are close contacts. “We just do not have the staffing required to operate the school next week. So we’ll be able to operate it remotely and then hopefully bring it safely back on the 3rd.” The Estevan Comprehensive School and Grades 9-12 at the Weyburn Comprehensive School will move to Level 3 effective April 26, with a planned return to Level 2 on May 10th. Those two schools were at Level 3 for the final few weeks of 2020 and the first couple of months of this year.
This is a joint decision between SECPSD Board of Education, Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division Board of Education and the Local Medical Health Officers who support the southeast area. Challenges remain in the southeast area of the province due to Variants of Concern, thus we must remain vigilant in our efforts to mitigate exposure. As schools return to in-class learning, the school divisions will work closely with Public Health to respond to local situations by class, school, and community. SECPSD’s and HFRCSSD’s top priority is the health and safety of all staff, students, and communities as they strive to provide the best education possible during these difficult times.
Most schools in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division and all schools in the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division will return to Level 2, in-class learning, effective . . .
“Instead of doing a Christmas concert, which obviously we can’t do, we thought we’d have our students do a little performance that we would record and post for our parents on our Facebook page,” said Haberstock. “Some of the classes are doing Christmas poems. Some of them are playing percussion instruments. Some of the classes are dancing. Some of them are doing other creative things. The door is wide open. The only thing we’re not allowed to do is sing or use wind instruments.” Each teacher sends in a video to Haberstock, and then she posts them individually. The goal was to have all of the videos uploaded by Dec. 18, which was the last day of classes before the Christmas holidays.