Letter From Division Points To Improvement But Continued Restrictions

With students now back in class after the Christmas/New Years break the Prairie South School Division has released a letter that shows optimism with the future but at the same time tempers it with the news the tight restrictions are in place for the remainder of the school year.

In a letter, signed by Prairie South’s director of education Tony Baldwin as well as board chair Robert Bachmann, to the student’s parents delivers good and bad news because of the pandemic.

The letter alerts parents that the Division had spoken to the Province’s chief medical officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, that the tight restrictions will continue until the end of June.

“It sounds like we will have some fairly significant restrictions right through the end of June this year,” the letter tells parents.

Those restrictions have led to the tentative cancellation of indoor graduation ceremonies this year, the second year in a row because of the COVID - 19 pandemic. The letter also points out that the final decision will be made on whether or not to cancel indoor graduation ceremonies will be made in mid-February.

“For families with students in Grade 12, it is very likely we will not be planning any indoor graduation ceremonies this spring in any of our schools,” the letter states, adding that by making the decision early it allowed alternative community or school graduation celebrations to take place.

The letter also added that being updated earlier by the Province than last year allowed the Division to better plan “for a more normal beginning to the 2021 - 2022 school year.”

The letter stated only two cases of COVID - 19 had been detected in PSSD schools since returning to class on January 4th. Some commentators as well as political partisans had been predicting a major increase in the numbers of cases in Saskatchewan schools following the break - something that did not materialize in PSSD schools.

The letter also acknowledges the Division is aware of the increasing numbers of cases of COVID - 19 provincially - the province has the highest per capita cases per 100,000 nationally - and as such will need to maintain the good work they are doing to prevent the spread within PSSD facilities.

The letter ends on a note of optimism that despite the fact the COVID - 19 pandemic is on-going that “we are feeling like we are finally closer to the end of the COVID - 19 pandemic than the beginning.”