Vancouver school trustee calling for special board meeting to fine-tune district’s restart plan
Posted August 17, 2020 9:38 pm.
Last Updated August 17, 2020 9:39 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — A Vancouver school trustee wants a special summertime board meeting to properly review the district’s restart plan before kids head back September 10.
Jennifer Reddy says she’s hearing from frustrated parents demanding more transparency because the information is continually changing.
“I don’t think folks are necessarily looking for something definitive. What people do want to hear is, how can folks start planning for a fall return? The second part is how will we ensure the safety of kids coming back and/or if they’re not choosing to come back, what are the alternatives and options and risks?”
Reddy says the meeting felt “very timely” with the amount of uncertainty and changes with the pandemic.
“There’s also a lot of ideas — people have so many suggestions and it’s actually garnering a lot of creativity. I think among folks we’re looking at examples from all over the world, there’s Vietnam, Germany, across Canada, examples from the U.S., so I think there are lots of lessons to be learned.”
She says trustees need to meet this week before the district finalizes the restart plan for the Ministry of Education, which, when approved, must be shared with parents by August 26.
