Alberta's Minister of Education, Adriana LaGrange. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Students K-12

In-person classes resume Jan. 10 across Alberta

Jan 5, 2022 | 4:02 PM

Students, parents, and teachers will not have to worry about classes being held exclusively online.

Many had expressed concerns when Education Minister Adriana LaGrange extended the winter break from January 4 to the 10th due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

READ MORE: Winter break for K-12 extended to Jan. 10, diploma exams cancelled

LaGrange announced Wednesday that early childhood and K-12 schools will return with in-person learning next week.

“Experts across Canada and around the world continue to stress the importance of in-person learning to the overall health of our children and our youth. I, myself, have heard overwhelmingly from families that learning in person is best for children.”

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Premier Jason Kenney had earlier touted his belief that in-person classes must be prioritized.

Starting next week, LaGrange says students in Grades 4-9 will be able to access free online tutoring resources.

“The e-tutoring hub will be launched with pre-recorded video tutoring sessions on literacy and numeracy that students and their parents can access any time. Later this year, online tutoring will be expanded to include more subjects and grades, and live tutoring will be offered.”

It was announced last week that, starting the week of January 10 the province will distribute 8.6-million at-home rapid COVID-19 tests and 16.5-million medical-grade face masks to staff and students. By the end of that week, every school in Alberta should have received at least an initial shipment.

Quick facts

• Both at-home rapid test kits and medical-grade masks will be distributed using a phased approach, with shipments being sent to schools as they are received by the province.
• Initially, boxes of five at-home rapid test kits will provide enough supply for each student and staff member to test twice per week for 2.5 weeks and a two-week supply of masks for each student and staff will also be shipped. A medical-grade mask has been tested and meets international standards.
• Shifts to at-home learning:
  • Authorities wishing to shift an entire school or school authority to short-term at-home learning will need to request approval from the Minister
  • Criteria for approving a shift will be based on operational needs due to student and staff absences, measures already taken and local health data, if available
• Online tutoring sessions on the e-Tutoring Hub will be:
  • free, with unlimited access for all students, parents, and school staff
  • up to 15 minutes in length for younger students and up to 60 minutes for older students
  • offered live during the school day, late afternoons and evenings to meet the needs of students and their families
  • designed and delivered to protect individual privacy
  • available 24-7 as recorded video
  • developed by Alberta certificated teachers working at Alberta Education
• During the pandemic, school authorities have had access to more than $1 billion in taxpayer funding for COVID-19. This includes a $120-million increase in operating funding for all school authorities across the province in the 2020-21 school year, $250 million in accelerated capital maintenance and renewal funding during the 2020-21 school year, access to taxpayer-funded board reserves, as well as $130 million in COVID-19 mitigation funding for the 2021-22 school year.
  • School authority operating reserves have grown by $80 million to $464 million as of Aug. 31, 2021, over the 2020-21 school year. Overall capital and operating reserves sit at more than $700 million.

NDP Education Critic Sarah Hoffman issued the following statement in response to today’s update from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange:

“On Monday, hundreds of thousands of Alberta students will return to their classrooms. The measures described today by UCP Education Minister Adriana LaGrange are completely inadequate. I heard her say she’s doing everything she can to keep schools safe and that is a bare-faced lie. There are specific measures that our NDP caucus has described that would help keep students safer in the classroom but the UCP has done none of them. There are similar measures that other Canadian provinces have announced to promote safer learning in the classroom and the UCP have not done any of these things either.

“No HEPA filters. No N95 masks. No carbon dioxide monitors. No contact tracing. No reporting to parents if their child was sitting next to another student with a positive test that day. No funding for the inevitable demand for additional staff. The UCP plan is setting schools up to close.

“It’s truly bizarre to hear Dr. Hinshaw tell Albertans that community transmission has never been higher at any point and that we must all reduce our daily contacts and then see the UCP send kids back to school without any of the protection that other Canadian students are receiving.

“Albertans cannot trust the UCP to keep their kids safe.”

(With files from rdnewsNOW)