Alberta
Province shares plan for school relaunch

From the Province of Alberta
Students returning to school for 2020-21 school yearStudents will return to learning in classrooms across Alberta at the beginning of the new school year. Schools will be ready to welcome students under scenario 1, which is near-normal daily operations with health measures. Alberta’s government has developed a re-entry tool kit to prepare parents and students for what to expect in the new school year. The tool kit includes videos for students explaining some of the health measures, a guide for parents, frequently asked questions, school posters, a self-screening questionnaire in multiple languages, and links to health guidelines.
Under scenario 1, schools will implement a number of public health measures, which include frequent cleaning of surfaces, placing hand sanitizers at school entrances and classrooms, grouping students in cohorts, and planning the school day to allow for physical distancing, which could include staggering start times for classes, recesses and lunches. Additional public health measures may be established prior to September on the advice of the chief medical officer of health in consultation with the education system. In addition, students, staff, parents and school visitors will be expected to use a self-screening questionnaire daily to determine whether they can enter the school.
Successful transition to summer school and child careAlberta’s school re-entry plan works, and already has mitigated risks to students and teachers. Throughout the summer, the Calgary Catholic Separate School Division ran in-person summer school programming in accordance to the guidelines developed and issued by the province. These comprehensive guidelines have mitigated risk, resulting in no COVID-19 outbreaks among teachers or students participating in summer school. Additionally, Alberta has seen a successful reopening of child care centres across the province. Children and staff have safely returned to these centres with no outbreaks occurring. School authority fundingSchool authorities have returned to full funding levels as of July 1, and every school authority in Alberta is receiving a funding increase for the 2020-21 school year – roughly $120 million across the province. A list of funding for every school authority is available here. In addition, the Minister of Education has approved the use of school board reserves, if needed, to help cover local COVID-19-related costs. The total amount of money sitting in school board reserves is $363 million. Accelerated capital school fundingThe province has also provided school boards an additional $250 million to support accelerated capital maintenance and renewal projects, as part of the more than $10 billion infrastructure spending announced in the Alberta Recovery Plan. This funding supports infrastructure enhancements that will help in a COVID-19 learning environment. Seventy-nine school projects totalling $15 million are moving forward with this primary purpose, including upgrades for enhanced hygiene such as hands-free sinks, automatic flush toilets, touchless soap and paper towel dispensers, automatic doors and water bottle filling stations to replace water fountains. New online Student Learning HubA new Student Learning Hub on new.learnalberta.ca is available for parents, students, and teachers to more easily access educational materials to support development of student literacy and numeracy, and provide health and wellness information. The online hub is another resource to support Alberta’s school re-entry plan, with recognition that more online learning resources may be needed during the upcoming school year. Additional resources will also be added throughout the school year. Expanding diploma examsDiploma exams will be offered in every subject in the November and April exam sessions. Expanding the offerings of the diploma exams will support school authorities who are shifting high school programming to a four-semester system as part of their COVID-19 re-entry plan. This shift allows for better cohorting by limiting the number of classes a student is in during a term without affecting total learning time over the course of a year. Personal protective equipmentStudents and staff may wear a mask if they choose to. However, practices such as physical distancing, cohorting, frequent handwashing, staying home when sick and increased cleaning of surfaces will continue to be the priority public health measures. COVID-19 cases at schoolIf a student or staff tests positive for COVID-19, a public health team will investigate to determine when symptoms developed and support the school to minimize transmission. While each case will be addressed based on its unique circumstances, it is anticipated that in most cases only the group of students and staff who came in close contact will likely be required to stay home for 14 days, and not the entire school population. Parents will be notified if a case of COVID-19 is confirmed at school and public health officials will contact those who were in close contact with that person. Transitioning to scenario 2 or scenario 3If there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in a community or school, health officials will work with Alberta Education and impacted school authorities to make any decision to potentially transition to partial in-class learning or at-home learning. Decisions will be based on multiple factors including the number of cases in a community or school and the risk of ongoing transmission. The health guidance for scenario 2 has been updated to allow for a maximum of 20 students per class. |
Alberta
Batherson’s shootout winner gives Senators 4-3 win over Flames

CALGARY — Drake Batherson scored the game-winning goal in a four-round shootout to give the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Connor Brown, Ryan Dzingel and Colin White each scored a goal for the Senators (9-17-1) in regulation. Tim Stutzle also scored a shootout goal.
Mark Giordano, Johnny Gaudreau, and Noah Hanifin scored for Calgary (11-12-3). Matthew Tkachuk added a shootout goal of his own in the loss.
Matt Murray made 30 saves for Ottawa. Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves for Calgary.
Brown scored the first goal of the game with 6:12 to play in the first. He fired the puck from behind the right face off circle. The puck redirected off a Flames defenceman before sliding through Markstrom’s legs.
Dzingel scored for the second consecutive game to give his team a 2-0 advantage before the intermission. He finished a two-on-one play, taking a pass from Chris Tierney before tapping the puck past Markstrom.
Ottawa Senators forward Austin Watson and Calgary Flames forward Zac Rinaldo fought each other within the opening three minutes of the second period, in the hopes of sparking their respective teams.
It worked, briefly, for the Flames. Giordano scored his third of year 88 seconds later, firing a shot that deflected off Senators’ forward Josh Norris before beating Murray.
But the Senators would restore their two-goal advantage thanks to Colin White’s seventh goal of the season less than four minutes later.
Gaudreau scored in the third period to bring the Flames, once again, within a goal. It was his 11th of the season. The Flames would finally even the scoreline thanks to a goal from Hanifin with over eight minutes to go in regulation. It was the second goal in two games for the Flames defenceman.
Calgary thought they had the game won later in the third as Brown tried to give the Senators the lead with his second of the night. With Markstrom out of position, the puck struck the right leg of Flames defenceman Juuso Valimaki and away from the goal.
The Flames and Senators hoped overtime would decide things, but to no avail. Batherson’s shootout winner would give the Senators two points and leave the Flames with just one.
NOTES: The Flames had eight power play opportunities Sunday night, but only scored once with the man advantage….
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Alberta
Former world champion Kevin Koe earns third straight win at Tim Hortons Brier event
CALGARY —
Kevin Koe remains unbeaten at the Tim Hortons Brier.
Koe’s Wild Card 2 rink defeated Eddie MacKenzie of Prince Edward Island 12-5 on Sunday to improve to 3-0 at the Canadian men’s curling championship.
MacKenzie’s squad dropped to 0-2.
Koe, a four-tine Canadian champion and twice a world gold medallist from Calgary, took control of the match early, scoring three in the second for a 4-0 lead.
Koe’s rink added four more in the fourth end to go up 8-1 before adding three in the sixth for an 11-3 advantage.
Koe rounded out the scoring with one in the eighth, after which the two teams shook hands.
Koe’s takes on Team Canada’s Brad Gushue (2-0) in the evening draw.
In other early action, Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone (2-1) downed Newfoundland & Labrador’s Greg Smith (0-3) 6-3; Quebec’s Michael Fournier (2-1) defeated Nunavut’s Peter Mackey (0-2) 15-1; and Ontario’s John Epping (2-1) got past Nova Scotia’s Scott McDonald (1-2) 12-7.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2021.
The Canadian Press
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