COVID-19 updates

With the onset of COVID-19 and how it has impacted this province, country, and world, we chose some time ago to suspend our annual conference and trade show until next year. This was the right thing to do.

In place of conference materials and registration information within these pages, we have elected to remove them and instead place some information here that identifies the seriousness of the virus and what we could/should/must be doing about it. It is within the following pages.

We have a mandate to keep schools open and ready for a variety of uses, such as housing first responders’ children in designated classrooms. Many child minding operations have shut down leaving first responders struggling to find someone to watch their children while they are out working hard fighting the virus. We are faced with a huge task. Our own mandate is to keep our staff safe and follow provincial guidelines, but how do we do that?

It takes a lot of thinking outside the box, many, many meetings with leadership teams, human resources, finance, secretary treasurer, and the rest of senior management. Developing protocols for safe and controlled entry in and out of school facilities is a huge task, but a necessary one.

School District #59 (Peace River South) has developed protocols and these have been shared. School District #61 (Greater Victoria) has used them with slight modifications to reflect what goes on in that district. With the permission of secretary treasurer Melissa Panaoulias of School District #59 and secretary treasurer Kim Morris of School District #61 we are able to share these protocols with our Ops Talk readers.

There are some pretty strict protocols for facilities operations, a second for the board office, and a third set for schools. With these in place we can all go a long way protecting district staff. Along with the protocols for the above operations, a set of FAQs are published and updated weekly. These are relevant and answer many questions our employees will have. Below are a couple of examples of this.

FAQ Can district employees bring their children to work/school with them?

No. It is important for the administrators/supervisors in each school/ site to monitor the safety in each building and ensure touch points are cleaned as per their communication with custodians. All access to the buildings needs to be monitored and controlled for everyone’s safety.

Where can staff entering a school or site find a sign-in sheet?

Sign-in sheets should be located at the front entrance of your building. This should be standard practice across the school district.

Why are custodians at the front main area of schools?

Custodians are helping out at the entrance to take some of the burden off administration staff when employees enter and exit as scheduled by the administrator/supervisor. These custodians are: 1. Continuing to clean; 2. Monitoring traffic during school/ office hours; 3. Sanitizing the tools and areas around the sign in/out area; and 4. Making note what rooms were occupied during the day so the afternoon cleaning staff can disinfect those rooms.

Will there be more disinfecting wipes available in schools and at work sites?

We are attempting to purchase them recognizing the first priority in the province is health care. Next, custodians need them for their work. In the meantime, as per the schools’ and other sites’ protocols, we’ve provided spray bottles throughout our buildings to disinfect surfaces as they are used. This is a joint responsibility for each employee as they use equipment and their desks, followed up by the custodial crew cleaning.

If employees have specific circumstances or questions about their own unique situations, who should they contact?

Employee questions regarding employment and circumstances need to be directed to their immediate supervisors or administrators. Supervisors and administrators will help their employees navigate the landscape. If supervisors or administrators need help answering questions, they are asked to contact human resources. The HR team is here to help navigate. It’s important that supervisors be the main contact for their employees. In times of uncertainty and fear, it’s imperative to have a key person who will help them get answers. If human resources get an indication there are common questions, we can address these as FAQs.

Make available information that that has been made available to you. Use empathy when dealing with employees who may be fearful of returning to work.

We are all on the Provincial Essential Services listing, and as such, are expected to be at work.

The protocols that follow are fairly strict and if we all adhere to them that will go a long way to protect all staff as they provide a much-needed (and appreciated) service to the schools, as well as all staff and others who are depending on us. n

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