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Reopening of Schools: École Socrates-Démosthène will be welcoming back its students on May 19

Dear Parents and Friends,

Following the Minister of Education’s announcement for the gradual reopening of schools across Quebec over the next few weeks, we are very aware that there is a lot of anxiety as you consider sending your children back to class. École Socrates-Démosthène will be welcoming back its students on May 19, 2020. Taking into account all the circumstances, this is a huge logistical undertaking and our School is already moving forward with the planning and organizing. As has been previously indicated, the return to class will be optional for preschool and elementary school-aged children.

Parents are not required to send their children back to school. Some parents may choose to keep their child at home if, for example, the child or someone else in the home has a weak immune system. Parents will be contacted by our campus administrators over the next few days to see how many children will be returning to class on May 19. To ensure the social distancing safety measure, a maximum of  15 students will be permitted per classroom.

High school services will not be offered to our students in school until the Fall. Our high school teachers will continue working from a distance with their students until the end of the school year. The Quebec government will also continue to offer educational and learning activities online, even when the teachers return to class.

Our School is committed to providing quality education to all children whether they will be in our buildings or whether they will remain at home. Our extraordinary educators will make every effort to continue teaching from a distance and assure all our students receive the same education. And of course, for those returning to class, we will be providing the safest environment possible respecting all Santé publique guidelines and MEES directives.

HCGM and School personnel are leaving no stone unturned with respect to health protocols. Personal protective equipment has already been ordered. Protective barriers are going up. On top of the sanitizers that we had in all our campuses prior to the closure, more have been ordered. New signage is being installed, including distancing and directional markers. Staff is coordinating bathroom usage, circulation in corridors and staircases. They are also organizing recreation and lunch periods to assure safety measures are respected. Special attention will be given to arrivals and departures. And our maintenance staff will be continually disinfecting once we reopen our campuses.

In addition, Faculty is also focusing on reorganizing their educational material and methods and is once again adapting to another new reality. Scheduling is a major challenge as well evaluations. Most importantly, our educators will be concentrated on their students once they return to class. Your children’s well-being is our ultimate concern.

Furthermore, there will an opportunity, by invitation, for parents to pick up their child’s belongings from school. More information will be provided by your campus administrators. For now, teachers and staff will continue their distance relationship with their students and their parents.

École Socrates-Démosthène will also be providing SEP daycare services as of May 19. The same health and safety protocols will be respected. Specific details by the service de garde administrators.

Finally, our School will also have access to its bus transport system. As the Minister has announced, drivers will be protected with a barrier and personal protective equipment. The campus administration will be following up with you for this service as well.

The most important thing right now is that we need to know as precisely as possible, how many children will be returning to school. This will help us to properly organize our campus environments and allow us to better coordinate our human resources.

With our sincerest regards,

The Director-General,

Chris Adamopoulos