BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK - The owners/operators of the two dance studios in Barrhead and Westlock are upset over the Pembina Hills School Division’s decision to limit students to one extracurricular activity, as many of their students take part in school sports in addition to dance.
Irene Widdup of Footworks Dance Academy in Barrhead contacted the Town & Country Sept. 18 to express frustration over the limit on extracurricular activities.
“This is a barrier because we have students who are both sports people and dancers,” she said.
“And so now, these poor families have to make a decision … and I’m upset, because not only are we going through a pandemic and these kids are going through this terrible, trying challenge in their life, but now they’re being faced with having to choose between two things they absolutely love.”
Widdup indicated she is already having to deal with significant challenges trying to operate in the midst of a pandemic.
“I want to keep the kids safe. I have done every sanitation protocol in my business to make sure everyone is safe,” she said.
To further illustrate the measures taken by Footworks to keep dancers safe, it should be noted that when the dance academy hosted a summer dance camp back in August, the dancers actually performed in the back alley for their parents just to make sure that social distancing guidelines were being followed.
“Now, let’s throw this in front of me? That’s not fair. How is that working together as a community in solidarity? That’s just causing division. I don’t feel that’s right.”
While this limit on extracurricular activities obviously impacts her business, Widdup pointed out that there’s been a lot of discussion around mental health amidst the pandemic and that extracurricular activities like dance are a coping mechanism for kids.
That was a point also stressed by Leslie Critchley of Silhouette Dance Productions in Westlock, who wrote a letter to Pembina Hills to express how deeply concerned she was over Pembina Hills’ policy.
Critchley said ‘outside of school’ programs like hers support students who have a tough time fitting in at school, who didn’t make a school team, and whose families can’t afford the travel associated with competitive sports.
Dance also supports artistic children looking for an expressive outlet, the kids who ‘get lost in the shuffle,’ and youth who just need someone to notice they are talented, smart, funny and an important part of their community.
“We fill the gap that a large school can’t. We connect with kids and their families, and give them something to be a part of and belong to. We contribute to their general well-being and mental health,” she said.
Critchley said this decision by Pembina Hills will be the demise of many after-school programs if families are forced to choose between them.
“What will our future community look like with no activities for children? How will this impact our town and its residents?”
On a final note, Critchley pointed out that Pembina Hills trusts families to follow daily health screening, to follow COVID-19 testing rules and to educate children on Alberta Health Services (AHS) guidelines.
With that in mind, why not trust parents “to make the best and safest extracurricular choices for their own families?” she asked.
PHSD’s struggle
During their Sept. 23 meeting, Supt. Dave Garbutt stressed to Pembina Hills trustees that they are not medical experts and they rely on the direction of Alberta Health and Alberta Education in navigating this pandemic.
“It doesn’t really matter to us too much which direction we go. We just want to do the right thing according to the advice of the experts,” he said.
Garbutt indicated the limit on extracurricular activities was informed by the province’s guidance document on sport, physical activity and recreation for Stage 2 of the re-launch.
This guidance document — which can be found on Pembina Hills’ website as part of a Sept. 23 news update — states that individuals should limit the number of
cohorts/mini-leagues they belong to, and that said cohorts should consist of no more than 50 individuals.
Furthermore, it says that if an individual wishes to change cohorts/mini-leagues, they should not participate in a new cohort activity for 14 days (which reflects the incubation period of the virus).
Garbutt said it did not seem logical to mandate individuals to wait 14 days before switching from one extracurricular activity to the next.
As such, it was decided to limit students to one extracurricular activity at a time. In short, if you wanted to dance or play hockey, you could not also play volleyball or basketball.
“What I want to emphasize is that this is not based on any individual’s opinion around sports or COVID-19 or anything else. We just said we’re going to follow the guidelines according to the experts,” said Garbutt.
However, the guidance document has itself now been contradicted by statements made by provincial officials to other media sources.
As such, Garbutt said he had reached out to Alberta Education prior to the meeting to get some definitive guidance, but had not yet heard anything.
“I’m struggling with why it’s so complicated to have something in black and white as a directive from Alberta Health,” he added.
In any case, Garbutt said they are asking for some patience from parents and the local community while they try to parse out the province’s expectations.
“Some of the decisions that we’ve made based on the guidance document have impacted their business. We understand that,” he said.
“We’re going to do our best to land on what is the expectation moving forward, because it seems to have changed.”
Westlock South trustee Jackie Carson pointed out that a lot of local sport associations and organizations are also asking families to choose one sport.
Garbutt also pointed out that some school divisions have chosen not to allow any extracurricular activities at all, adding that he couldn’t blame them for that decision.
One such example is the Lethbridge Public School District, which actually prompted a protest by students and parents on Sept. 24.
