Students and staff in high schools and middle schools will be required to wear masks in high-traffic areas like in hallways and on buses in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Exceptions will be made for students who can’t wear masks for medical reasons, according to an announcement from the province on Monday.
A JN Burnett student, Victor Lam, recently started a petition to make mask-wearing mandatory in schools. He has garnered more than 5,400 signatures so far.
The Ministry of Education is providing more money to buy 1.5 million masks so that every staff member and students has at least two.
The provincial announcement on Monday clarified that, in addition to having to wear a mask, students will be required to physical distance from anyone who is not in their “learning group.”
Schools are set to open up full-time in the fall, but students will be limited to contact within their “learning groups” – groups of 60 students in elementary schools and 120 in high schools.
Staff will go back to work on Sept. 8 but students are expected back in schools on Sept. 10.
In the meantime, 677 Richmond parents have asked the school district to afford them the choice of remote learning to limit risks to their children and extended families.
