Middle and secondary students required to wear masks when physical distancing not possible

The guidelines also cover the key components of delivering K-12 education during the pandemic, including curriculum, report cards, supports for students with disabilities/diverse abilities, and finance operations.

Even when students are wearing masks, staff and students will be required to maintain physical distance from people outside their learning group.

“Efforts will be put in place to ensure there is not crowding, gathering or congregating of people from different learning groups in a school setting, even if non-medical masks are being worn. Schools will also ensure non-medical masks are available for staff if someone should become ill while at school.”—Release from B.C. Ministry of Education

In order to help schools meet those expectations, funding the ministry is providing funding to school districts for the purchase of up to 1.5 million masks, enough for every public-school staff member and student to have at least two masks.

Canadian Shield, a manufacturer of personal protective equipment products in Ontario, Canada, recently announced it is donating an additional 54,500 face shields for K-12 schools in B.C., adding to the inventory of personal protective equipment that will be available for students and staff.

Other health and safety guidelines:

increased cleaning of high-contact surfaces like doorknobs, keyboards, desks and chairs;
increased hand hygiene with all students, staff and visitors being required to clean their hands before boarding school buses and entering school buildings, before and after eating, using the washroom and using playground equipment; and
school districts may also install transparent barriers for people who have more contact with others, such as front-desk staff, bus drivers or food services staff, where appropriate.

Learning groups were also created as a health and safety measure which will require students and staff remaining together throughout the school quarter, semester or year. Learning groups could be made up of a single class of students or multiple classes of students.

by Veronica Beltran

Middle and secondary students required to wear masks when physical distancing not possible

Other health and safety guidelines:

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