Students will be expected to engage in online learning to advance

Despite what the Education Minister may have suggested when he announced the suspension of K-12 classes amidst the coronavirus pandemic, students in the Central Okanagan will not be getting a free pass to the next grade.

Central Okanagan School District superintendent Kevin Kaardal joined board chair Moyra Baxter Tuesday for a virtual town hall on education hosted by Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick.

Kaardal explained students will be expected to complete the work given to them by teachers online if they want to advance a grade or graduate. 

“We are a semester school system, and we are about a third of the way through the semester, so we really don’t believe any student currently is in a position to graduate,” Kaardal said.

“There will be some more engagement that they are required to do. If they engage with our teachers, and do the work that they are supposed to do, then yes we believe that every one of them will graduate.”

He said teachers are in the process of reaching out to parents to address their needs to determine the best way to deliver education remotely, be it through Zoom video conferencing, Google classroom, or just paper and a telephone.

Kaardal noted Telus and Shaw are offering free basic internet to low-income families during the pandemic. 

“Parents are not expected to teach their children,” Baxter said. “Our teachers will be figuring out how to do that. In those most extreme cases, where there just isn’t an opportunity for online support we will be providing some traditional methods.”

Kaardal said teachers will be working on delivering core competencies to students, focusing on the quality of projects rather than time spent on a subject.

In the Central Okanagan, about 550 students will be heading back to school next week for in-class instruction. The provincial government has asked that the school district facilitate learning for children of “Tier 1” frontline workers — those in health services, social services, law enforcement and first responders.

Kaardal said those students will be limited to just six per classroom in desks spread apart from one another.

Children of “Tier 2” workers — other essential services — may be accepted down the road.