The Board of Trustees of the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) discussed preliminary plans for the resumption of teaching and learning in September during a virtual meeting today (Friday, June 12), live-streamed through the District website. A number of potential scenarios and related considerations were brought forward.

“Obviously our goal is to have all K-12 students back in classrooms, engaged in face-to-face learning with their teachers,” said Goronwy Price, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “That is what we all want. But we cannot predict with certainty how the Covid-19 health emergency will evolve over the next couple of months, and what direction we will be provided from public health and other government authorities with respect to protocols in classrooms, on school buses, and within the school environment in general.”

Chair Price noted that if the current situation prevails, with very low rates of Covid-19 identified in the province, many schools - particularly those with lower enrollments - could return to normal instruction with minimal change. Other measures are being considered to address schools with larger enrollments, including finding alternate locations to provide instruction. In any case, the District must be prepared for any scenario, and be able to pivot at any time to revert to a blended model of in-class and online learning, or even a complete switch to regularly scheduled online teaching and learning, complete with assignments and assessments. This would look very different from the continuation of online learning experienced between mid-March and June of this year.

More information on potential plans for September can be found in the complete released linked below.