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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020
Sunflowers Canada’s top feel-good crop
Bright sunflower fields west of Estevan have been making hundreds of people driving by smile, stop, take pictures and enjoy one of the most happy-looking plants. But sunflowers are not just beautiful to look at, this year they are actually warming the hearts of many producers as prices and the demand for this special crop has gone up, and the hectares seeded are at their highest level in years. For Agri News see pages A10-11. Photo by Anastasiia Bykhovskaia
School year start delayed by one week, province announces $40 million for safety of staff and students By Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter The provincial government has amended its back to school plan for students, with a new first day of classes. In a Facebook video posted Saturday, Premier Scott Moe said that school would be starting on Sept. 8, a week later than school divisions in the southeast initially planned. Two days later, he explained why. During a press conference with Saskatchewan chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab, Moe said that he sought to address concerns he’s heard over the past several weeks, noting that the usual excitement about a return to school is “mixed with some anxiety.” “And I understand,” he said. “I know that most parents want to see their kids go back to school, but they also have concerns. And they
have questions. They are looking for more clarity on how things are going to work and what things are going to look like. So today, I want to provide as much clarity as we can.” The announcement came as the opposition New Democratic Party has been calling for more clarity from the government on its COVID-19 back-to-school plan. Moe said the provincial government would be providing “more resources, more information, more time and more testing capacity to ensure a safe return to school this fall.” He added the province will allocate $40 million from the $200 million provincial COVID-19 contingency fund for additional costs related to ensuring the safety of students and staff through the pandemic. This is in addition to $40 million in savings schools realized from not operating in the springtime.
The $40 million in contingency funding will see half made available to school divisions on an application basis for pandemicrelated costs including staffing and sanitation supplies. Another $10 million will be available to enhance non-classroom options like distance learning to help ensure immunocompromised and medically fragile students have continuous access to learning across school divisions, available on an application basis. The last $10 million will be allocated to the Ministry of Education to centrally procure masks, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies for school divisions. Moe noted that COVID-19 testing in Saskatchewan has ramped up from 1,000 to 1,500, then 2,000 tests per day. It is now approaching 3,000 and by early September will reach 4,000 tests per day. He explained that testing, including voluntary, randomized testing, will
be available for students and staff. He also pointed out all teachers and school staff are being encouraged to seek testing prior to returning to school and at frequent points throughout the school year. Priority access to testing will be established for teachers and school staff in the coming days, with referrals available through 811. Targeted school testing is a key focus of the expanded testing plans, with plans including targeted monitoring, testing of students with parental consent, and priority testing for teachers and school staff. Participating schools will be selected based on a number of factors, such as number of students in the school and if the community is experiencing a recent surge of new cases. In school public health visits for routine childhood vaccinations will now include COVID-19 testing, where parental consent is granted, Moe noted. School divisions are to release
their school-specific operation plans online no later than Aug. 26, to allow parents to decide what they will be doing. This may mean some parents refraining sending their kids to school, choosing distance learning instead. Moe said individual schools will be somewhat different. These include things like busing protocols and which entrances students will use. As for the extra days before school starts, Moe said, “It will provide teachers and other staff two to four day to be in the school, to be trained on protocols, make sure their classrooms are configured properly, and in some cases, hold virtual meetings with parents to discuss exactly what the new procedures are.” The terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement currently held with the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation will be honoured, the government noted A2 »MOE
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