By way of a revised health order, the B.C. Provincial Health Officer (PHO) has delayed the start of school for public and independent schools in January by one week. According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), the intent behind this decision is to allow schools to implement enhanced safety measures and to allow public health to learn more about the Omicron variant in our communities to ensure the right measures are in place to keep students and staff safe. As a result, classes across the province will begin on Monday, January 10th, 2022 when learning will resume.
All staff will report to work on Tuesday, January 4th as scheduled and all schools will provide support to parents who work in the health care system and to students with exceptional needs. Please contact your school administration this week if you have questions in this regard.
MEI’s school principals will communicate to families key safety reminders and any revisions to our safety response by Friday, January 7th. Staff can expect to hear from their principal/manager this week as necessary.
Thank you,
Vijay Manuel
Head of MEI Schools
@headofschools
Thank you for your leadership. Will the children recieve online instruction for the senior high students?
ReplyDeleteThe directive does not allow for online instruction. If that changes, we will communicate that to parents. Currently, we are not permitted to offer online instruction.
DeleteThis is distressing news and very upsetting that no online instruction is being implemented. We understand that MEI is doing the best they can under the circumstances, however, this is just too much.
ReplyDeleteI finally am beginning to feel like it is too much too, so I had a long and beautiful walk in the snow, sat down to pray at the frozen pond, and came home to be intentionally over-silly and have fun! It worked-my joy returned! Keep going! We got this-one day at a time!
DeleteThank you ‘dyamicduo’ for this encouragement. :) Thank you ‘PM Tydeman’ for your support through this challenging season.
DeleteThis is distressing news and greatly impacts our children especially as no online learning is being offered. While we are confident that MEI leadership is doing the best they can given the situation, it is time to stand up for education and youth mental health.
ReplyDeleteThis comment and question is in regards to high school. Most students in this age category have either had the jab or the virus itself. What good is the vaccine if the kids can still spread it ? We were all told to vaccinate, and still the stopping of school is happening. What does the Chief Medical Officer have to say to that? The kids also missed a week of school due to flooding. I'm not complaining at your response here, Mr. Manuel. I know this is hard for you. I do believe however, it's time to push back. The info out of South Africa as well as research at Hong Kong's University is that Omicron is far less virulent. Young people were already not deeply affected by this virus. Why close schools for a more mild version of it??
ReplyDelete‘Unknown’, please see my longer comment below.
DeleteI would like to know how the loss of instruction will be made up. We are not a public school. I expect more! This is disappointing.
ReplyDelete‘The Fincaryk Family’, please see my longer comment below.
DeleteCould we possibly ask the government to allow online learning for Abbotsford as we lost a week from flooding when other schools didn’t?
ReplyDeleteYes, we have brought the loss of instructional time for Fraser Valley schools due to flooding to the attention of the government.
DeleteThank you for your comments and questions. Please remember that this is a B.C. Government decision due to the revised public health order by the Provincial Health Officer and the directives within. This decision has not been made by MEI or any other independent or public school or district. We found out the details about the decision yesterday at the same time that families in B.C. did. I would encourage you to contact your local MLA with any questions in regards to the decision. MEI continues to work through the appropriate channels, primarily FISA (Federation of Independent School Associations) to first, ensure safety while advocating for the learning needs of our students. We are also in close contact with the other large independent schools in our area and with our local public district; we are all working through this together. Many thanks to you all for your respectfully submitted comments. Let’s stick together, MEI. Trusting the Lord…
ReplyDeleteVijay thank you for your leadership and thoughtful communication as we work through this.
ReplyDelete