FILE PHOTO.
Image Credit: PEXELS
September 18, 2020 - 12:45 PM
A preliminary enrolment report from the Kamloops-Thompson School District shows a big jump in the number of students learning online.
According to the Sept. 11 report, online enrolment has increased by 235 per cent from previous totals. This year, there are 623 students learning online, compared to the stable 186 last year, and the year before.
However, these numbers are expected to change over time.
"It’s going to be a constant state of transition as we work through the year," superintendent of schools Terry Sullivan said. "I think as the year progresses, we will see some of these students certainly come back and when COVID is done, hopefully we will see them all come back."
He added the district is holding space in schools for those students if they return in the future.
They have also made resources available for students enrolled in online distributed learning from home.
"We’ve redeployed staff where numbers are down in some schools so they can reach out to students whose parents decided that they’re not comfortable with them returning right now," Sullivan said. "There’s a variety of different scenarios that are out there that we’re trying to respond to."
In class attendance in elementary and secondary schools has dropped this year by about six per cent, with 13,818 students enrolled this fall. The majority of students, about 94 per cent, have returned to class in person.
"I’ve just been remarkably impressed with the level of calm and the level of quiet in which our schools started up," Sullivan said. "It’s been a very complex, demanding and very challenging time, but parents have been very supportive, and students and staff have been great."
He added he's pleased with the way classes resumed, following planning that began as early as March.
"We’re all in it together and we just have to continue to work together as we work through this pandemic," he said.
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