August 16, 2020

Dear Students, Staff and Parent/Guardians,

Re: Safe Schools Plan Update Week of August 10th to 16th, 2020

Significant updates, announced by the Government of Saskatchewan and the Provincial Chief
Medical Officer, have occurred the week of August 10th to 16th as it pertains to the start of
school this fall. The following information is aligned with Government guidelines outlined in the
Saskatchewan Safe School Plan (available on Saskatchewan.ca website) and procedures
necessary for minimizing physical contact with others, and reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Our school division will be adding these procedures to the Safe Schools Plan Update within our
School Division’s Return to School Plan Fall 2020 (available on pacsd.ca website). The
following updates are important for all students, staff and parents to be aware of:

1. Parents are asked to transport their own children where possible.
As per the Ministry of Education Guidelines Primary and Secondary Education Institution Guidelines
released June 17, 2020, parents are asked to transport their own children to school where possible. All
students, pre-kindergarten to grade 12, who ride the school bus, must wear a mask. (Accommodations
for students with intensive needs, with pre-arranged plans with school-based administration, may be
permitted if necessary.) A seating arrangement will be provided for all students riding the bus and same
household and family members will be seated together.

2. Masks will be mandatory for all students grades 4 to 12 during classes, in school
busses, in hallways, breaks and recesses in and common areas of the school as
announced August 10th, 2020.

Both the Board of Education and Provincial Chief Medical Officer have mandated masks. All students
Grades 4 to 12 will be provided one reusable mask and guidelines will be reviewed with students upon
school start. It is highly recommended that parents/guardians and students begin the process of having
students begin to get used to wearing masks starting with short periods of time and moving to longer
periods of time. (Please note: students will be permitted to remove masks in a controlled manner, under
the direction of school personnel, during the school day.) Accommodations for students with intensive
needs may also occur as well. All staff will be required to wear masks and will also be permitted to
remove the mask under certain conditions.

3. Effective August 11, 2020, École St. Mary High School will be operating at Level 3 as
per Government of Saskatchewan Safe Alternative Guidelines.

Level 3: will involve reducing classroom capacity. This will include establishing cohorts and hybrid
learning models. Factors that are being considered include the location, structure, timetables
structure, class sizes and additional operational procedures. This may include the hybrid learning
model of in-class and online learning or alternating days for high school students. School-specific
information will be finalized and posted online (pacsd.ca) and communicated to parents and
students no later than August 26th.

4. Effective August 11, 2020, the Provincial Chief Medical Officer required all school
operations to include teacher and class cohorting.

Teacher and class grouping/cohorting, with a focus on grouping/cohorting teachers to a limited number
of students and keeping students in one cohort as much as possible; In elementary school settings,
students’ cohorts will be the classroom; in high- school settings where grouping/cohorting is more
complex, therefore, reducing the number of cohort exposures will be considered.

5. Effective August 11, 2020, all classroom set up will include front-facing instruction for
students, any exceptions will be identified for approval by public health.

All classroom configurations will include front-facing instruction for students where physical
distancing is not possible or where physical barriers are not provided.

6. Effective August 11, 2020 staggered start times, breaks and end times, where possible
as per Chief Medical Officer announcement on August 11, 2020.

Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer has also directed the following additional measures to
be included in all division plans staggered start times, breaks and end times, where possible. All
schools will be staggering their recess and break times within the school schedule. Entry into school
will be staggered. School-specific information will be finalized and posted online (pacsd.ca) and
communicated to parents and students no later than August 26th.

7. Effective August 15th, as per social media post of Premier Scott Moe, Government is
pushing back the first day for students to September 8, 2020.

As we seek clarification on this announcement, school-specific information will be finalized and
posted online (pacsd.ca) and communicated to parents and students no later than August 26th.

8. Announced on August 15th by Premier Scott Moe, aggressive new testing strategy
focused on voluntary testing for teachers and students will be available.

Details from Health Authority and/or Saskatchewan Government will be forthcoming.
With complexity of the evolving Safe Schools Plan, our school division greatly appreciates the
patience and support of all our students, staff and parent/guardians during these
unprecedented times. Parents are encouraged to monitor our Prince Albert Catholic Schools
website (PACSD.CA) for the important updates.

Thank you.

L. Trumier
Director of Education