Schools return to in-person learning

Masks create communication problems in schools, say principals, while remote learning has isolated students

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the new school year approached, B.C.’s Ministry of Education said that students could look forward to the return of full-time in-person learning. While mask requirements and other health and safety measures will remain in place, sports, music, and other extracurricular activities may resume. “We know how excited students and families are about being back in school with extracurricular and sports programs and how important it is for children to be connected to their teachers and friends on a full-time basis,” said Minister of Education Jennifer Whiteside, in a release. “We also know we can do this safely, even as the pandemic continues to present challenges.” Following a provincial health order, staff and students in Grade 4 and up are required to wear a mask in indoor spaces. Younger students will be “strongly encouraged” to wear masks, according to the ministry. Nancy Logan, principal of Haahuupayak Elementary School in Port Alberni, said many of the school’s safety protocols will carry over from last year, including the mandated daily health checks. Although Logan said that students at Haahuupayak got used to wearing masks, it remained a challenge. The masks make it more diffi cult for children to express themselves and to understand others, she said. To acknowledge these concerns, Logan said teachers will have open dialogue with students at the beginning of the school year so they don’t feel alone in their struggle. “We really have to have patience and kindness with each other,” she said. “When children are speaking, we need to show respect and do our best to hear and listen.” Carol Sedgwick, principal of Ucluelet

Photo by Melissa Renwick Lunch breaks at Ucluelet Secondary School will continue to be scheduled before noon to minimize students’ contact with the community. It’s a shift carried over from last year to protect students who access food from local restaurants and grocery stores, said Principal Carol Sedgwick. Secondary School (USS), echoed Logan and said, “it’s disappointing we’re back in a place where we’re all wearing masks.” Despite that, she said she remains optimistic because “we’ve done this before” and for some, masks bring comfort. In September 2020, the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) released a study called the Impact of School Closures on Learning, Child and Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report expressed concern that the pandemic may be disproportionately impacting Indigenous peoples due to the “eff ect of ongoing racism, social exclusion, and structural violence on the health and well-being of Indigenous children, families and communities.” It’s a sentiment refl ected by Logan, who said that layers of intergenerational trauma from colonization and residential schools compounded the stress infl icted by the pandemic. While Logan said she supports each family’s decision about sending their children back to school, she hopes to reassure parents about the safety and health precautions in place at Haahuupayak through one-on-one meetings. The BCCDC study found that students were signifi cantly impacted by remote education through uneven learning opportunities, increased stress and decreased connection. “As children and youth are isolated from peers, teachers, extended families and community networks, mental health conditions may increase,” read the study. “School closures and physical distancing may result in increased loneliness in children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, correlated with mental health eff ects including anxiety and depression.” Since schools reopened in September 2020, Vancouver Coastal Health said it has not recorded a signifi cant increase in COVID-19 cases among school-aged children relative to other groups. Continuing from last year, USS will run four semesters. Sedgwick said the shift from two semesters was made to lighten students’ course loads and to minimize movement between classes in the school. Similarly, lunch breaks at USS will continue to be scheduled before noon to minimize students’ contact with the community. It’s a shift carried over from last year to protect students who access food from local restaurants and grocery stores, said Sedgwick. After Haahuupayak transitioned to a four-day school week last year to help students and staff manage pandemic stress, Logan said the school will be returning to fi ve days this September. While it was “great” to have a three-day weekend to reboot, the additional half hour at the end of each day was too burdensome on students and staff , she said. Children will no longer be segregated into cohorts this year, as this isn’t recommended by public health as a COVID-19 mitigation measure. This change will allow teachers to extend their support to all students, rather than being limited to one or two classes, said Logan. All mechanical heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in schools will continue to be regularly inspected. According to the ministry, provincial funding will be made available to update or replace these systems through routine capital programs. A total of $87.5 million has already been used to improve ventilation in schools across the province. Logan said that funding through the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association enabled Haahuupayak to hire a full-time intervention teacher to address the learning loss due to the pandemic. By helping students with some of the basic skills, numeracy, and literacy, “it can really help them feel confi dent to rejoin their groups,” she said. While the pandemic continues to alter the ways schools operate, Sedgwick said that like any other year, she looks forward to welcoming students back. For educators, students and parents, the school year marks the beginning of a new year, she said. “It’s very celebratory,” said Sedgwick. “We all look forward to seeing the students that we haven’t seen all summer and look forward to meeting the new ones coming in. [I’m] very optimistic.”

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Photo by Melissa Renwick Job postings are hung on a community bulletin board in Tofi no, on September 2, showing a hiring bonus for dishwashers. Tofi no businesses struggle to stay open

Loss of international workers and an accommodation crisis leads to lost business

By Melissa Renwick Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tofi no, BC - On a community bulletin board outside of the Tofi no Co-op Food Store, Shed restaurant advertised a $500 signing bonus for line-cooks and dishwashers. Live to Surf, TOFINO Kombucha and Wolf in the Fog also had job postings on display. Meanwhile, the Dockside Smoked Fish Store has closed for two days a week. “Staffi ng is the main issue,” said owner and Ahousaht Tyee Ha’wilth Maquinna Lewis George. “It’s super busy. We shouldn’t be closed, but we’re having to close.” Without enough staff to keep the business running full-time, George said the decision was made for him. It’s a problem nearly every business in Tofi no has been grappling with this summer, said Tofi no Long Beach Chamber of Commerce President Laura McDonald. “Businesses are being impacted by labour shortages to a signifi cant extent,” she said. “Many can’t be open at full capacity during the busy season, when they rely on making enough to carry them through the rest of the year.” Tofi no’s transient population and the town’s housing crisis are contributing factors that have carried over from previous years, said Tourism Tofi no Chair Samantha Hackett. COVID-19 compounded those issues by presenting new layers of challenges. When businesses were forced to close in March 2020 to combat the virus, many people who relied on tourism to support their families had to look for opportunities outside the sector, said Hackett. “The whole industry, not just in Tofi no, has seen that shift of losing some of those long-term workers,” she said. George said a recent hire quit because she couldn’t handle the workload. Another resigned because she didn’t feel comfortable engaging with so many tourists daily after being exposed to COVID-19. “It’s been really, really hard,” he said. Due to travel restrictions, the town has also seen a loss of its international workforce. “[Tofi no is] in a remote location and we absolutely rely on working holiday visa type employees,” said Hackett. “Obviously, that’s pretty much non-existent at this point. It’s going to take some time. We have to rebuild our workforce over these next few years.” Partnering with colleges and universities is one of the ways the town plans to do that, said Hackett. According to preliminary data from STR, Tofi no’s hotel occupancy in July was 92.6 per cent, as compared to 75 per cent in 2020 and 94.5 per cent in 2019. “We’ve seen very, very busy years before,” said George. “Tofi no has always been busy.” Yet, the combination of high occupancy rates and staffi ng shortages have made it diffi cult for businesses to meet tourism demands, said McDonald. To address the issue of staffi ng shortages, the chamber said it’s working with other resort jurisdictions and the BC Chamber of Commerce. “The aim is to come up with some short and long-term solutions from a provincial and federal perspective,” McDonald said. “The impact of this issue is being felt everywhere right now. It is not a problem that is unique to the west coast, unfortunately.” As the summer season wraps up, McDonald said the chamber will begin to have conversations with businesses to identify short-term solutions that can be implemented locally. While George continues to cope with a staffi ng shortage and operational changes resulting from COVID-19, he is trying to stay positive. “I’ve always been told that if you see a negative, try to turn into a positive,” he said. “That’s the way I want to live.”

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