As per our Communicable Disease Prevention Plan, 

“Staff and child absences due to illness will be monitored closely for potential activity signals. School closures may be considered based on availability of staff and public health orders implemented to prevent excessive transmission in the school and preschool / child care setting.”

Each day, we review our student absences due to illness. We are experiencing a marked increase in absences since last Thursday, but already noted a small recovery in numbers today. This mirrors the levels of sickness that are being experienced in other contexts in our community. 

We have also experienced increased staff absences due to illness. To date, we have been able to maintain support for student learning across our K-12 classrooms. A big thanks to our staff for their flexibility in covering classes and support of students outside of their typical domains! We are assessing, on a daily basis, our capacity to provide in-person program continuance.

Functional closures are considered when staffing shortage or public health order implementation dictate. Unless you hear from the school directly via email, we will continue regular operations.

Please note that even in a functional closure, our doors will remain open to provide care for families who are not able to stay home with their children. In this case, optional activities would be forwarded to elementary parents via email, and there would be delivery of high school learning activities through Google Classroom.

Thank you for keeping your children home when they are sick. We have stepped up our handwashing and the frequency of our surface sanitation; and have chosen alternatives to some of our larger group gatherings this week.

Continue to apply our health measures (hand washing, wiping down surfaces, etc.), eat well, and get good rest. May the Lord have his healing hand upon our school community!

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the office or our Principal, Shane Nelson (shanen@cedars.bc.ca).