Frequently Asked Questions

Before coming to schools each day parents/guardians must assess their child daily for symptoms of the common cold, influenza, COVID-19 or other respiratory diseases to determine whether they can attend school or stay home. If any symptoms are present students must stay home. See the Government of Alberta’s COVID-19 Information Screening Questionnaire.

The expectation is to complete the questionnaire daily and follow all Government of Alberta health instructions. Students who have any symptoms noted on the questionnaire cannot attend school. 

Staff and authorized individuals permitted in schools will also need to complete the daily screening questionnaire before entering the building. People with symptoms of COVID-19 or experiencing illness will not be allowed in the school. 

All division facilities will have posters on their door reminding people not to enter the building if they feel sick, or if they have had close contact with someone who is suspected of having COVID-19.

The Division is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all students and staff. A combination of measures will be used to minimize exposure to COVID-19. For a listing of our enhanced health and safety measures, please see the Parent/Student Handbook on School Re-Entry.

A cohort is defined as a group of students and staff who remain together. The size of the cohort will depend on the physical space of the classroom or learning setting and the number of students assigned to that teacher. 

Cohorting decreases the number of close contacts staff and students will have in the school and will assist public health officials in their efforts to trace contact and contain a COVID-19 outbreak. 

Activities that bring together multiple classes or grades are not permitted at this time. 

Alberta Education has mandated that all staff, and students from Grades 4 and up, will be required to wear non-medical masks on school transportation, and in all common areas in school buildings, or where physical distancing is not possible.

Parents are encouraged to discuss this with their children and to begin getting them used to wearing masks before their return to school. Students will be taught procedures for using non-medical masks. Parents should familiarize themselves with the guidance on mask use, paying attention to the need to launder masks on a daily basis. Non-reusable masks will also be available in schools for circumstances when the reusable masks are not available.

*Individuals who are unable to wear a mask will require a doctor's note. Families will work with school administration on how this will apply to their child.

No, everyone in the class does not need to be self-isolated. 

If your child has any of these symptoms: fever, cough (new cough or worsening chronic cough), shortness of breath or difficulty breathing (new or worsening), or loss of sense of smell or taste you may be required to legally isolate for at least 10 days or until you receive the results from your COVID-19 test. Learn more by reviewing the COVID-19 Alberta Health Daily Checklist.

If they have any other symptoms of illness, they should stay home until their symptoms resolve. Any individual with symptoms of COVID-19 should be tested, as soon as possible, which can be arranged through the Alberta Health Services online self-assessment tool.

If you have symptoms or known exposure to COVID-19, you must stay home and book your test online with the Alberta Health Services assessment tool or call Health Link 811.

Learn more by visiting the Alberta Health Services symptoms and testing page.

Our top priority continues to be the health and safety of our school communities. Our division has implemented a COVID-19 hotline where parents/guardians are able to call or text if your child receives a positive COVID-19 result from Alberta Health Services. Please text or call the COVID-19 hotline number at 403-588-8155 and provide us with the following information:

• Your child’s first and last name and school of attendance
• When did your child get tested?
• When did they get informed that they were positive?
• Were they experiencing any symptoms, what date and time did those start?
• If they were not experiencing symptoms, what made them get a test?
• Last day they were at school? 
• Does your child ride the school bus?
• Your first and last name with a phone number (with the area code) you can be reached at

Please inform us immediately once you receive the positive COVID-19 result. This method of communication will allow us to respond quickly in taking swift measures to protect our students and staff and to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Your child’s physical health and mental wellness is important to us. Our division will continue to strive to reduce the stigma around COVID-19. Please know that we are grateful for those who come forward and we will continue to support your child’s learning during this time.

We can all do our part in protecting the spread of the virus and will continue to show support, kindness and empathy for those who tested positive for COVID-19. 

In order for school in-person classes to be successful, all students and families must work together to minimize risks. One of the critical strategies is testing in order to determine if self-isolation needs to continue. Should anyone answer “Yes” to any of the daily health check questions, they are prohibited from entering the school.

Your child must stay at home. Please use the COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool to determine whether your child needs to be tested for COVID-19. Please let schools know when you receive the phone call about the results. The school will not keep a copy of the results but will know that it is safe for the student to return. Families can learn more about COVID-19 testing and book a test online through Alberta Health Services.

Tested positive for COVID-19:

• You are legally required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days if you have tested positive for COVID-19.
• The isolation period is for 10 days from the start of symptoms, or until symptoms resolve, whichever takes longer.

Has symptoms but tested negative for COVID-19:

• If you tested negative and have known exposure to COVID-19, you are legally required to isolate for 14 days.
• If you tested negative and have no known exposure to the virus, you are not legally required to isolate. However, it is important to stay home until your symptoms resolve so that you do not infect others.

Close contacts of confirmed cases:

• As a school we will move all students to online learning for the 14 days to ensure everyone has the same access to education and teachers.
• LIFT date means that the date identified is the day you can return to regular activities (examples: return to school, grocery shopping, etc).

Quarantine for close contacts who are not immunized and/or symptomatic:

• You are legally required to isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms if you are a close contact of a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
• If you become sick with cough, fever, shortness of breath, runny nose or sore throat during this time, you must isolate for an additional 10 days from the beginning of symptoms or until you are feeling well, whichever takes longer.

Quarantine for close contacts who are partially immunized and asymptomatic:

You are considered partially immunized 14 days after you’ve received one dose in a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series.

If you are partially immunized at the time you are exposed to someone with COVID-19:

• You must quarantine for 10 days from the date of last exposure.
• Get tested for COVID-19 on day 7 or later (this is 7 days after your last exposure to the person with COVID-19). If your test is negative and you still have no symptoms your quarantine is over.
• If you develop symptoms , get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible. You must isolate for at least 10 days after your symptoms start, if you are not tested.

During the 14 days after your exposure to a person with COVID-19, you should continue to follow these guidelines when your quarantine is over:

• You may return to work, school, childcare, and other activities.
• Continue to follow public health guidelines including washing your hands, wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing and gathering restrictions. Following these public health guidelines is required, regardless of whether you are immunized.
• You should reduce your number of contacts when possible (especially avoiding non-essential visits to continuing care or acute care settings).
• Self-monitor for symptoms. Stay home and get tested if you have any symptoms.

Quarantine for Close Contacts Who Are Fully Immunized & Asymptomatic

You are considered fully immunized 14 days after you have received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in a two-dose vaccine series.

If you are fully immunized at the time you are exposed to someone with COVID-19:

• You do not have to quarantine as long as you do not have symptoms.
• If you develop symptoms get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible. You must isolate until you receive a negative test result OR for at least 10 days after your symptoms start, if you are not tested.

During the 14 days after your exposure to a person with COVID-19, you should continue to follow these guidelines:

• You may return to work, school, childcare, and other activities.
• Follow public health guidelines including washing your hands, wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing and gathering restrictions.
• You should reduce your number of contacts when possible (especially avoiding non-essential visits to continuing care or acute care settings).
• Self-monitor for symptoms. Stay home and get tested if you have any symptoms.

Any one confirmed case will result in an investigation by Alberta Health Services Public Health. It is likely with a single case that exposure is limited to a single class or group. Closures of specific classes, cohorts or schools may occur depending on the outcome of an investigation.

Public health measures for outbreak management are at the discretion of the Zone Medical Officer of Health. Decisions on the need for alternate instructional delivery plans or school closures will be made by government in conjunction with local officials.

We are using Soapopular alcohol-free hand sanitizer:

• It's fragrance-free and hypoallergenic.
• Kills 99.9% of harmful germs in seconds. Effective against COVID-19, H1N1 and MRSA.
• Non-toxic and non-flammable.
• Non-drying and non -irritating.
• Approved and authorized by Health Canada for use against COVID-19.

For more information, please visit http://soapopular.com/sp/

We have developed a COVID-19 cleaning standard for all schools that aligns with provincial guidelines around cleaning and disinfecting. These increased measures include: 

• Purchasing provincially recommended COVID-19 cleaning supplies.
• Additional training for staff.
• Removal of soft furnishing and area rugs from classrooms and common areas.
• Frequently cleaning and disinfecting such as water fountains and door handles.
• More frequent cleaning and disinfecting throughout the school including washrooms, high traffic areas and classrooms.

The safety of our students and staff is paramount. We have implemented many enhanced health and safety measures in our schools to minimize exposure to COVID-19. For a listing of our enhanced health and safety measures, please see the Parent/Student Handbook on School Re-Entry.

Due to health concerns and parental choice related to the pandemic, families may choose not to have their child attend their designated school. We have created a survey to ensure that we can have students placed in at-home cohorts to meet their schooling needs. 

At-Home Learning

If a family chooses at-home learning the Alberta Education Program of Studies will be covered and assessment will occur. This will include a full curriculum of Math, English/French, Social Studies, Science and Religion including Physical Education.

At-home students will remain enrolled at the school where they are registered for 2020-2021. Students who learn at home will be part of an online learning group with an assigned teacher. However, the teacher may not be a staff member at their designated school. This learning format will include live online teacher instruction, activities and assignments that students will complete independently.

In order to keep the learning environment, once a family has joined an at-home learning cohort, you will be part of that cohort until the end of the semester for all Grades (Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 12). Semester 1 (August 31 - January 28) and Semester 2 (February 1- June 29).

Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten at-home learning will follow the same resources and studies as traditional in-class programming experiences. For those students that qualify for services for speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, or other support, families will be contacted to ensure appropriate services are made available to them.

To learn more about our At-Home Learning Program, click here.

At-Home Learning

At-home students will remain enrolled at the school where they are registered for 2020-2021. Students who learn at-home will be part of an online learning group with an assigned teacher. However, the teacher may not be a staff member at their designated school. This learning format will include live online teacher instruction, activities and assignments that students will complete independently.

To learn more about our At-Home Learning Program, click here.

Traditional Home Education

The traditional home education program offers a vibrant community of “families learning together" at home and in the community. All families are supported by experienced facilitators available to help parents in their child’s home education journey.

In traditional home education, the parent takes the lead and is responsible for developing and delivering the curriculum.

To learn more about our Traditional Home Education Program, click here.

Before Travelling in a School Bus 

The safety of your child/ren and staff comes first and foremost. Please do not send your child/ren to the bus if they’re displaying the symptoms outlined in the screening questionnaire. This questionnaire is the daily self-assessment tool that parents and staff must use.

Remember to use your Safety Zones and physical distance while waiting for your bus.

Please update/refresh the free Bus Status App for notifications on route status. To download the Bus App, click the links for Apple or Google Play.

While Travelling in a School Bus 

As there is no physical distancing on the bus:

• Your school bus operator will be wearing a mask and gloves, as well as a face shield during loading and unloading.
• We will practice cohorting and seat family members together.
• We will be taking ridership attendance twice daily.
• We will load the bus from back to front as the bus moves throughout the run. 
• We require students in Grade 4 - 12 to wear a mask. 
• We have created an “Empty Hands” policy that is up to the discretion of the bus driver. Please ensure everything is in your child/ren's backpack (including games).
• There will also be no eating/drinking on the bus to lessen the opportunity of transmission when sharing occurs. However, water bottles are allowed if approved by the driver.

After Travelling in a School Bus

Once your child returns to the house we encourage them to wash their hands thoroughly. The school bus will be cleaned after every run and sprayed with a disinfectant that has been approved for use on the COVID-19 virus.

• Schools will manage the flow of people using a variety of visual cues (posters, floor markers, directional arrows, one-way hallways, etc) to help students and staff maintain physical distancing.
• Other traffic flow considerations include:
  • Stagger entry of students into the building.
  • Stagger recess/snack, lunch and class transition times to provide a greater amount of space for everyone.

Schools will evaluate whether they can offer extracurricular activities that follow COVID-19 protocols, and let families know which activities are available. Alberta Education is working with Alberta Health and education partners, including the Alberta School Athletic Association, to explore possibilities for athletic activities and events within the context of current health measures. At this time, team sports may occur only in the form of practices and with a restricted number of nine students plus a supervisor.

Staff will refer to Guidance for Outdoor Recreation when planning activities. Students will be able to participate in those activities regardless of whether they choose in-person or at-home learning.