Superintendent’s Office
September 11, 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As we end this first week of in-class learning, I would like to give a big thank you to everybody. Thank you to our parents for your support and patience as we continue to work on all the plans and implementation strategies. Thank you to all our division staff who have worked so hard to prepare our buildings to be ready for students.
As I toured schools this week, it was a pleasure and a joy to see students back in our buildings. I look forward to observing the continued teaching and learning in action in the coming weeks.
Please know that we continue to work diligently to ensure our schools and buildings are following all Public Health Orders and Manitoba Education protocols. The safety and well-being of our students and their families, as well as our staff, is of utmost importance to us.
Did You Know?
- Increased cleaning and disinfecting is occurring around your child’s school and throughout the day, especially high-touch surfaces and washrooms. Extra hand washing and sanitizing stations are set up and monitored to ensure students utilize them. In addition, we are placing portable wash stations in many of our schools.
- All buses are sanitized before the next group of children boards. Sanitization includes enhanced cleaning of seats and other high-touch surfaces (e.g., windows, railings). Some of our buses will be sanitized 2-3 times per route.
- HSD has also purchased portable sanitizer spray equipment, which is utilized on a routine basis for sanitizing classrooms, washrooms, gym equipment and school buses. This equipment will also be utilized to sanitize spaces in the event that we do have a positive case of COVID-19 identified in one of our schools or buses.
- The cleaning and sanitizing products used by HSD are deemed safe products approved for use in schools. We work with organizations such as Safe Work Manitoba and the Manitoba School Boards Association to determine which products are safe for use.
- A printable version of the Self-Screening Questionnaire (PDF) has been made available by Public Health. Self-Screening must take place every day before your child attends school.
- Manitoba Education has outlined the steps to be taken by public health and your child’s school if a positive COVID-19 case is confirmed. View the one-page Response Management Summary (PDF). For more detailed information regarding potential scenarios, visit the provincial Restoring Safe Schools web pages.
- All schools in the Hanover School Division are currently operating in the Caution Stage (yellow). The province has defined four pandemic response levels – Limited Risk (green), Caution (yellow), Restricted (orange) and Critical (red). These may change throughout the school year, and they can be applied differently in individual schools or regions across the province, depending on the situation. The response level is set by public health officials. Learn more about how each level impacts schools by viewing the Pandemic Response System (PDF) documentation.
Future Updates
Hanover School Division will continue to work closely with Manitoba Education and Public Health. Updates will be communicated as new information becomes available. Please visit the HSD website for up to date information. If you have questions and are unsure where to direct your inquiry, please email us at info@hsd.ca.
Respectfully,
Shelley Amos, Interim Superintendent/CEO