Families share mixed emotions as students prepare for back to school in North Vancouver, West Vancouver

Students and parents on the North Shore are getting ready to head back to school next week with a mixture of worry and hope as they approach another school year under a pandemic that isn’t yet over.

This year, masks will still be mandatory for students in grades 4 through 12, and children age 12 and older are eligible for vaccination. But unlike last year, there will be no grouping of students into “cohorts”, no alternating classroom and online time for some high school classes and no additional online learning options. Most extracurricular activities that were halted last year will also be allowed again this year, under provincial health guidelines.

While some parents are welcoming a return to a more “normal” school year, for others, it raises concerns, particularly as the more transmissible Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus has taken hold in the province.

For Diana Araya, a North Vancouver mom of kids in grades 1 and 4, it’s frustrating to be talking about many of the same issues as she was a year ago. 

“They’re trying to normalize things when it’s not normal,” she said. “You cannot rely on vaccination 100 per cent.”

Araya said she’d like to see a mask mandate for younger children as well as older ones.

She thinks an online learning option should also be available for families, like it was last year.

Her own kids, however, are excited to be heading back to Dorothy Lynas Elementary. “They know they will wear a mask and they’re OK with that,” she said.

Last school year an 'emotional roller coaster'

Carli Sussman, whose kids attend Andre-Piolat French school in North Vancouver, shares many of those concerns.

“We’re feeling really anxious actually,” said Sussman, describing the last school year as “an emotional roller-coaster.”

Like Araya, Sussman would like to see the mask mandate extended to younger grades.

She’d also like to know what kind of notifications parents will receive if there are COVID-19 cases identified in classes.

Parents won't be notified of every COVID-19 case

Last year, notification was often late or lacking, said Sussman. “I found out about an exposure in one of my children’s grades through a group text message” among parents, she said. “Everyone had to gossip to get information.”

On Tuesday, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, said parents will not be notified of single COVID cases in school classes this year. There will be reporting on outbreaks or clusters, she said.

Sussman said her biggest concern is that kids are going back to school without vaccinations, which have not yet been approved for children under 12. “We don’t really know when they’ll be able to be vaccinated,” she said.

There are currently about 600,000 children province-wide who can’t yet be immunized.

Henry said Tuesday there has been a “slight increase” in numbers of school-age children testing positive for the virus in the past month, but added those cases have not taken off dramatically.

The example of the United States has shown, “The bottom line really is that it has to do with community immunization rates more than anything else,” said Henry.

Henry said there is still work to do getting teens immunized, and hinted broadly that vaccinations will likely be coming into high schools in the fall, saying public health will be connecting with school boards and school districts on the issue.

Cases have risen more steeply among unvaccinated 12 to 19 year olds than they have among children under 12 or teens who have been vaccinated, according to information from the BC CDC.

Between 71 and 78 per cent of North Shore teens fully vaccinated

As of Aug. 31, between 84 and 89 per cent of 12- to 17-year-olds on the North Shore had received first doses of vaccine and between 71 and 78 per cent were fully vaccinated, according to B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control – significantly higher than the provincial average for that age group.

Shirlee Law, whose son Ollie completed the last school year online learning, said this year her fully-vaccinated teen will be heading back to class in person.

There’s still some worry, she said, because although she’s double vaccinated, as a cancer survivor, her immunity levels may still be lower than the average person's.

But Law said she wants her son to have the social experience of being back at school with his peers.

“This last year and a half has been so isolating. He’s been a great sport about it, but I want him to have more in life that he can get from social interaction outside of our family,” she said.

School ventilation systems upgraded

Both North and West Vancouver school districts spent significant money over the past year on improvements to ventilation systems, funded by federal and provincial governments.

In North Vancouver, mechanical ventilation has now been provided to all classrooms, including portables, said spokeswoman Lisa Dalla Vecchia.

Filters have been upgraded to MERV-13 standard in both North and West Vancouver schools. In West Vancouver, “the few classrooms without HVAC systems have all been equipped with HEPA air purification units,” said spokeswoman Tricia Buckley.

Stephanie Deline, whose daughter has not attended in-person school since March 2020, said she still wishes a online learning option was being offered to parents by the school district – at least until kids can be vaccinated.

No additional online learning options

Last year, her daughter attended the online learning program provided by the North Vancouver school district, which she described as “fantastic.” With that option gone this year, Deline said she’s enrolled her daughter in an alternative online school.

“I personally would not be comfortable sending my child back into public school until she can be vaccinated,” she said.

Not all parents are worried about the return to school this year.

North Vancouver dad Alexander Boldizar, whose son attends Collingwood private school in West Vancouver, said “I’m really happy they’re moving in the direction of normalcy.”

Social side of school is important

“Education is not just the academic side. The social side is a huge part of what education is,” he said.

Boldizar said while kids are at the lowest risk for serious illness from COVID, they’ve had some of the more onerous restrictions placed on them over the past year.

He added decisions should be made “on a rational basis” and assessment of risk – which doesn’t include achieving zero COVID cases.

The virus “is not the only risk,” he said. “I’m worried about the pressures that are coming from the more fearful demographics in the population. We’re creating as many risks from our response as we are from the virus itself.”

Rola Priatel, a West Vancouver mother of three teen boys, is also happy to see kids return to the classroom full-time, without the hybrid system which saw teens alternating some classroom sessions with online learning from home last year.

“I see a huge benefit of being in the classroom, looking at the teacher,” she said.

Priatel said she’s been impressed by the measures put in place in schools to keep kids safe.

“I trust the school system will do what’s needed,” she said.

Vast majority of teachers vaccinated

For the most part, teachers are looking forward to a return to the classroom, said Spencer Capier, president of the West Vancouver Teachers Association.

While the new Delta variant has raised concerns, “We have many good safety measures put in place,” he said, adding that “the vast majority of teachers are vaccinated.”

Teachers would like to see a mask mandate for the K-3 grades, he said.

He added West Vancouver teachers would also not be opposed to a vaccine mandate for adults working in schools.

So far that has not been endorsed by the province.

Most of the approximately 22,000 students on the North Shore will return to class Sept. 7.