Education minister providing details on back-to-school plan
CBC
Education Minister Natalie Jameson is holding a briefing to outline plans for when children return to school next week.
She is joined by Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I.'s chief public health officer.
Most students on P.E.I. have been doing their schoolwork online at home since the beginning of the year. During a COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, Premier Dennis King said children would return to in-class learning Monday, Jan. 31.
He said students will be subject to testing, masking and cohorting, and said further details would be provided Thursday.
As of Wednesday, P.E.I. had 2,640 active cases of COVID-19. Morrison said she expects more cases when students return to school, but said it's important to find a balance when easing restrictions.
Earlier this month, Jameson said exams for high school students would be cancelled for the term. She said high-stakes education testing would be inappropriate and unfair to students at this time.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.