School attendance plummets as COVID-19 concerns rattle Botwood

Only five out of 240 students attended class in Botwood's Memorial Academy school on Wednesday, asCOVID-19 concerns enveloped the communityand parents hauled their children out of class.

Newfoundland and Labrador's English School District says the school is safe to operate, and has kept classes going, but parents have been reluctant to send their kids back into thebuilding after an extendedholiday weekend.

Parents at the school were told on Oct 6 that a second person linked to the school had tested positive for COVID-19 this school year.Classes were already cancelled for professional development on Thursday and Friday, but on Tuesday a mere handful of students showed up.

On Wednesday, district staff sent a letter to parents in an effort to reassure themand draw students back into the classroom.

"We try to be very transparent and alert parents right away whenever a school is impacted," said Daniel O'Brien, an assistant director with the school district. "But, in doing that it somehow heightens the concern."

"The other part of the message that doesn't seem to resonate is that even though we've informed you of this, we've done a very thorough analysis of the contacts and public health deemsthe school to be safe."

The district'sletter was met with only a small improvement in attendance on Thursday morning,when 15 students came to class, according to O'Brien.

We really try to maintain a sense of normalcy.- Daniel O'Brien

Some parents have tried to organize online letter-writing campaigns to school district staff,asking for classes to go online.

O'Brien said the school district is not considering that optionand has never switched to online schooling whenthe province's public health team says normal operations are safe.

"We really try to maintain a sense of normalcy for children," he said. "We really believe that having school open, having kids in school, giving them the normal day-to-day activity that they would ordinarily be used to is as important for them from an educational perspective as it is a health and wellness perspective."

The community's high school has also seen low attendance, with about half of students in class this week, according to O'Brien.

Multiple parents told CBC News that a considerable amount of children are self-isolating after contact with a COVID-19 case. Children under 12 are not eligible for vaccines, and must isolate themselves for a full 14 days if they are exposed to the virus. Other parents are too scared to send their children into the classroom.

Though the school district is not switching to online teaching, students who are self-isolating are connected to their school and teachers with online tools, O'Brien said.

Change needed, says teachers'group

In a statement, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association saidlow attendance at both schools in Botwood shows parents are not confident in nor reassured by public health messages.

"If, as officials have stated, maintaining and sustaining in-school learning is a priority, then a closer look at how explanations and information on such matters are handled is warranted," spokesperson Jennifer Tulk wrote.

"We feel what is needed is an approach from Public Health that strikes a better balance providing enough information to give parents and the entire school community confidence that such situations are being appropriately dealt with and that the risks for their children from in-person school attendance are low."

O'Brien said while public health teams decide whether schools are safe to open, he is working with school principals to assure parents and guardians that schools are safe.

"It's a scary virus. There's a lot of fear that resonates in our Newfoundland communities when and if there is ever a positive case identified," he said.

"I'm not sure that we've come to grips with the notion of how do we live with COVID-19. I think the initial way we dealt with it was, from a public health perspective way back in the first instances, was to lock down the province. But that's not the direction anymore. We're trying to operate within a world that will have COVID-19 likely for a very long time."

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