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$ 25 Volume 86, 85, Number Number14 5 Thursday, April 9, 20206, 2019 Wednesday, February
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
GST included
Box 746, 123 1st Avenue East • Canora, Saskatchewan • S0A 0L0 • Phone: 306-563-5131 • Fax: 306-563-6144
Technology and innovation allow Canora music lessons to carry on Like many other music teachers, Gillian Leson of 88 Keys Music Studio in Canora is no longer able to teach piano and vocal music lessons to her students in person, due to precautions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. But for the past couple of weeks, Leson has been offering piano and voice lessons online to give her students the opportunity to continue their musical development. See the story and more photos on Page 2.
Empty hallways a reminder that school has changed due to COVID-19 By Cindy Smith, principal Canora Composite School There is an eerie quiet in the school, as halls are completely empty and thoroughly sanitized, not that anyone is there to hear the echoing silence. No teachers are allowed in the school, and the last day students were allowed to attend was Thursday, March 19. On Monday we first heard the news from the province of Sask, via Good Spirit School Division (GSSD), that schools would be closed. This was no surprise as we’d been carefully listening to news from other provinces and the rest of the world, and we knew our turn would come.
We were given four days to wrap things up. We informed our students on Monday morning that anyone who could stay home, should. By afternoon, several families were keeping their kids at home. We remained open to students, though, till March 19, as we knew people would be scrambling for child care. On Tuesday, I walked around to all our classrooms to talk to students. There were a variety of responses to what was by then being called a global pandemic; some students were incredulous, some nonchalant, but most very curious and worried. As teachers, we are continuously trying to impress upon students the
importance of attendance, and keeping up their studies. Now we are faced with switching our message. In the grand scheme of things, I told them, missing a couple months of school is not the end of the world. Kids miss great chunks of school for many reasons; fires, floods, illness, family moves, and with some hard work we manage to catch up or get over the gaps in learning. But this is different. And my heart especially stopped when I spoke to some of our Grade 12 students. This is their grad year. But when all of this is over, if people still have all their loved ones, then the rest will be OK. Not great, but OK.
By Thursday there were only teachers and staff in our building. The caretakers were doing double time, sanitizing everything. Our thanks go out to them! They are labeled “essential workers,” and had to remain in the building, cleaning and sterilizing, while everyone else was sent home. Melodie Berehula, Max Zbitniff, and Ken Keys are our heroes. I c a n ’t d e s c r i b e h o w strange the feeling was; the same empty hallways we see in June but without the sense of completion, relief and celebration. This was different. We faced uncertainty. No one had answers or knew what would come next. Continued on Page 6
The hallways in Canora schools and other schools are empty, and have been since March 19, after the news came from the province of Saskatchewan, via Good Spirit School Division, that schools would be closed.
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