Langley students told to ‘prepare for possibility of remote learning’ as COVID-19 cases spike

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – With another dramatic spike in daily COVID-19 cases across B.C., there’s a chance more students could soon be learning from home.

In Langley, parents are being told to be ready for anything. In a letter sent to families Tuesday, the school district “is encouraging students and families to get prepared for the possibility of remote learning.”

Saying it’s learning from colleagues in neighbouring districts where class and school closures are taking place, Langley Schools writes it wants its community to be ready for potential delays come January.

“At this point, while these measures only remain a possibility, we are doing our best to be proactive and will continue to update the community as information is made available,” the letter reads, adding the district wants to ensure its students are prepared.

“Our school administrators and staff are planning for this and will be prepared to communicate any information specific to your school.”

Langley families are being asked to prepare for a switch at any point, and to keep up to date with communications from the district. Parents are also being asked to, “Gather personal learning materials which may be helpful for at-home learning.”

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Wednesday morning, 38 new school exposure notices across the province were logged by the parent group BC School COVID Tracker, bringing the apparent total to 893, impacting one-in-four schools in B.C..

Meanwhile, mathematics researchers at Simon Fraser University say contact tracing is likely not the best way to stop transmission between students, suggesting instead broad testing.

However, given challenges created by a lack in resources, the researchers cite “pooled testing” as an alternative method.

“In this procedure, samples are collected from all students in the class on a regular schedule, pooled together and then tested,” Paul Tupper and Caroline Colijn write. “A positive result indicates that at least one student in the class has the virus, and then the students can be told to isolate while more careful testing identifies the individual cases.”