SD58 announces plan to have students return to classrooms in Merritt

The Nicola-Similkameen School District is beginning to reopen sites for face-to-face learning for students in the City of Merritt, the Town of Princeton and surrounding areas for the first time since floodwaters and severe weather impacted the communities on November 15.

“School District staff, principals, teachers and school staff have been working day and night over the last two weeks, assessing and preparing facilities to get students back into schools, which I’m pleased to say started yesterday,” said Stephen McNiven, superintendent of schools, SD58. “This includes sourcing spaces, cleaning up the schools, bringing in clean drinking water and organizing classrooms. Staff are being provided a trauma-informed learning session facilitated by Safer Schools Together, to help students feel safe and supported as they adjust to being back in school and to support staff mental health as well.”

In Merritt, the School District is reopening Merritt Bench Elementary and Nicola Canford Elementary to K-7 catchment students as well as students from other catchments whose caregivers provide essential services: Nicola Canford Elementary reopened yesterday and Merritt Bench Elementary reopens today, December 3.

The Community Learning Centre, also reopened on December 2, and the School District plans to reopen École Élémentaire Collettville next week.

Merritt Central Elementary, Diamond Vale Elementary and Merritt Secondary all sustained damage in the flooding and will not be reopened in the near future.

·      To provide immediate onsite learning to upper grades, the School District has accepted the kind offer of space from the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology for Grade 11 and 12 students for in-person learning, beginning as soon as possible.

·      Grades 8-10 students will continue with remote learning while the School District secures additional facilities for face-to-face learning.

·      The School District will be preparing classroom space for in-person learning for Diamond Vale Elementary students at Merritt Bench, Nicola-Canford and Collettville. The target date for having Diamond Vale Elementary students in these classrooms is December 13.

·      Alternate learning space for Merritt Central Elementary students has been secured at what was once the Maranatha School at Crossroads Church. The target date for having Merritt Central students in these classrooms is January 6.

·      Face-to-face recreation and social activity time will be offered to both Diamond Vale and Merritt Central students while classrooms are being prepared and remote learning takes place. 

The School District continues to work closely with the Aboriginal Advisory Council and individual First Nations communities to plan and implement support for learners and families. Upper Nicola Band is providing access to classroom space which will be used to support the remote learning being done by both Merritt Central Elementary and Merritt Secondary Students.

“We thank the communities for giving us space to set up alternate classrooms, and the Ministry of Education for the shipment of up to 500 devices to supplement our existing supply of remote learning equipment,” said McNiven. “Access to learning for all students is crucial and we are working hard to ensure all students have the ability to return to learning as soon as possible. We are working hard to overcome the unprecedented and ongoing disruptions that we currently face with the goal of supporting students and families to the best of our abilities. We ask parents and students to be patient as we supply learning devices to students as they return home.”