Parents consider options for school reentry

WESTLOCK, BARRHEAD, BOYLE - With the announcement of the province’s school re-entry plan for September, parents across Alberta and the Town and Country region are now considering their options, with some having already made up their minds and others still weighing the risks and benefits of sending their kids to school during a viral pandemic. 

In July, Education Minister Adriana LaGrange revealed schools would re-open in September under Scenario 1, which sees precautions being taken in a school environment that is near close to normal. Last week, masks for students between Grades 4-12 were made mandatory in shared areas outside their classrooms (see Pages 4-5). 

With just two weeks left until the start of the school year, parents are making up their minds and have two options — send them to school or home-school them yourself. 

In Westlock, Tiffany Scarnati said it has been a real quandary, but will be sending her three boys, 12-year-old twins and a nine-year-old, to school when classes resume. 

“I think a lot of parents, myself included, are very worried and unsure about this sending our children back to school thing. I’ve had many discussions with friends and family about it, some of our friends have chosen to home-school this year because it’s just a lot to wrap your mind around. I’ve lost a lot of sleep over it, but we are sending our boys back to school,” she said, adding there have been discussions with her boys about having to wear a mask and follow other guidelines in the classroom, and they are comfortable with that. 

“They said they would wear the masks; they would do anything they needed to do to be able to be back at school. They miss their friends a bit, but they said they missed school even more,” said Scarnati. 

The discussion has been ongoing on at dinner tables and on social media since the decision was made. 

In Barrhead, Ashley Hove says she definitely won’t be sending her oldest into Gr.1 this year and has been seeking out as much information as she can gather about homeschooling since the announcement of the re-entry plan was announced. She even created a local Facebook group, which now has more than 200 members, to reach out to other parents in similar situations. 

She’s more worried about how the rules and regulations are going to affect her son in the long run, than she is about the virus itself. 

“I am nervous about sending my kid back more so for the repercussions of COVID — the masks, the social distancing, and how that is going to affect the little kids,” she said. 

Hove is prepared for the long-haul as well and is prepared to homeschool her son until things are actually back to normal, she said. 

“It’ll be when things go back to an actual normal that I’m comfortable with, because right now I feel it would affect his mental health really bad and I’d hate for him to be affected in any way. I don’t want him to have to recover from his childhood,” said Hove. 

“I’ve just been trying to encourage everybody to go with their gut because I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer for anybody. Just do what’s right for yourself and your own family.” 

In Boyle, Becky Lind hasn’t been able to make up her mind, so turned to Facebook for some clarity and started a conversation with a post that remained very civil and understanding of each other’s viewpoints on the subject. 

“I realized I’m not the only parent that might still do home-schooling … I just couldn’t live with myself if I sent my kids to school and they got it,” she said, but added she’s still waiting to see what will happen in the next few weeks. 

Kids are going to be kids, she said, and sometimes they can get out of control and not consider their actions. 

On the other hand, she said, echoing many of the parents who commented on her post that many parents are more than willing to put their kids in the hands of trusted school staff.  

Lind is a mother of four — 15, 11, 10 and nine — so home-schooling during the remainder of the school year was trying to say the least. 

“It was awful. Awful. The kids don’t like me as a teacher. I’m really strict with their schooling. They didn’t like it too much,” she said. 

With that, Scarnati agrees. 

“Homeschooling was horrible all around,” she said. “It was tough for me to get my kids online at the right times as two of them had class at the same time. I believe my children all suffered this year.” 

Both gave serious accolades to the teachers who hung in there with the virtual learning and those who will be teaching in person come September. 

“The teachers were rock stars though to be able to do what they did,” said Scarnati. 

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Chris Zwick,TownandCountryToday.com