On July 21, 2020, Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange, Premier Jason Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that Alberta schools will reopen in September under Scenario 1, under ‘near-normal daily operations with health measures’ (you can watch the press conference on YouTube).

We welcome this early announcement, as it helps parents and staff plan for the 2020-2021 school year. Our teachers and staff are also eager to get back in the classroom and work with their students.

Black Gold School Division’s administration, facilities department and custodial staff have been working since May with your school’s principal to plan for your child(ren)’s safe return to classes.

The health of our students, teachers and staff is our top priority. We are putting into place engineering controls, administrative controls, and securing personal protective equipment to make our schools as safe as possible. We are also developing plans to respond quickly and effectively to any identified COVID-19 cases, should they occur, or if we move to Scenario 2 of the re-entry plan.

In early August, your child’s school will share their re-entry plans with you. Later in August, Black Gold will send all parents/guardians a Google Form to indicate whether or not you will be sending your child(ren) to school or enrolling in one of our learn-at-home options. This will help us with planning to provide the best learning scenario for your child(ren).

Please stay tuned as we will provide additional updates in the coming weeks. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at bgsd@blackgold.ca.

Sincerely,

Bill Romanchuk,
Superintendent of Schools