Dear VTT Families, 

I wanted to thank you for your support as we took the last week to prepare to pivot and do all that we can to remain open for our families. In order to do this, we need your continued partnership and assistance. Please see below for updates and requests. 

What to do when your child is ill? 

We have a zero sickness policy at VTT. Please do not send your child to school if they have any symptoms of illness. If your child is sick, we ask that you keep them home and notify [email protected] and specify that your child is staying home due to illness. If your child is confirmed to be COVID positive, we would greatly appreciate having this information so that we can track our exposures, but will respect your privacy. We ask that you make VTT your first point of contact regarding your child’s illness and share information with us that only pertains to your own family. In the case of a prolonged absence, your child’s teacher(s) will reach out to you to help keep your child up to date on their work. If your child is well enough, please assist your child in completing work from home to try to avoid gaps in essential learning. 

We request that children stay home until they are symptom-free or only left with long-lasting, lingering symptoms. If your child is COVID positive or presumptive positive (presenting with COVID symptoms), fully vaccinated students should remain home for five days and not fully vaccinated must wait 10 days. We count on our families to do the right thing and work to help alleviate the spread of COVID-19. We encourage you to consult the BC Thrive App to better understand your child’s symptoms and safe next steps. Should you wish to see more information on next steps after testing positive, please consult the BCCDC Information Sheet about recovering from COVID here. 

If your child is ill with non COVID-related symptoms, please follow our sickness protocol on page 28 of our Parent Handbook.

Notifications of Exposures

Given the speed of the spread of Omicron, public health has informed us that they will be changing the manner in which they inform communities about exposures. Instead, schools will be closely monitoring absenteeism and the reports made by parents about their children’s illness. We will inform parents if several presumptive positives occur within one class. Otherwise notifications will not be sent home. 

What health and safety changes is the school making? 

We have spent this week reviewing all of our protocols and enhancing them wherever possible and appropriate. We will be reviewing all expectations with students on Monday.

Students can expect the following: 

  • Lunch will be eaten in classrooms
  • Students will be assigned locations for recess and pathways in and out of the school to avoid overcrowding
  • Emphasizing hand sanitizing in and out of every classroom and the building 
  • Halting in-person large gatherings (e.g., assemblies will be virtual)
  • Encouraging the proper wearing and use of 3 layer masks (we suggest that you no longer use fabric masks)
  • Practicing physical distancing wherever possible
  • Requiring daily health checks at home
  • Implementing effective ventilation, including the use of MERV13 filters in the school’s ventilation system and open windows where possible (students should come prepared with extra layers and jackets to keep warm)
  • Spreading out desks to maximize the use of space in each classroom and avoid grouping students together

What changes to the schedule will impact parents?

The only change impacting parents will be the broadening of Friday pick up hours to avoid overcrowding. Parents can start to come at 2:00 pm on Fridays up until 2:25 p.m. The PikmyKid app will reflect the earlier pick up time. Drop off will continue to be from 8:15 on 26th Avenue and from 8:00 in the parkade. Otherwise, pick up and drop off will remain the same as usual.

How and when will the school use Functional Closures?

A functional closure is a temporary closure of a class, grade, section (e.g. primary/intermediate) or school. A closure may occur for one of the two following reasons: 
  1. Health closure of the whole or part of the school, which is determined by the local health authority due to the COVID-19 case count in, or related to, a school. 
  2. Functional closure of a school, class, grade or section, which is determined by the school or school district due to a lack of staff to provide the required level of teaching, supervision, support, and/or custodial to ensure the health and safety of students. 

We anticipate that we may experience a functional closure in the coming weeks, most likely due to multiple teachers experiencing illness and a subsequent shortage of teachers-on-call. We have already booked several TOC’s in anticipation and put plans into motion to ensure that we are able to cover for high rates of absenteeism amongst our faculty and staff. However, we expect that there may still be a need for functional closures. If this is the case, we will alert you as soon as possible, and assist students in learning remotely. Please make a habit of checking your email (and texts) in the morning before leaving your house for school. 
 
How can I help keep VTT open?
 
We have been trying to think creatively about the potential of severe staff shortages and would like to call on our parents to assist. If you are fully vaccinated, symptom-free and interested in volunteering to help with recess and lunch supervision, in the office, and in other areas so that we may deploy staff where most needed, we ask you to fill out this form with your availability. 

We thank you for partnering with us to minimize disruption and keep our doors open. Your patience and understanding will be greatly appreciated as we push through the challenging weeks ahead. 

The entire VTT team looks forward to welcoming back your children tomorrow.

To reaching the other side together,

Emily