Dear Parents/Guardians,

It has been a while since we last spoke, so I wanted to provide you with some updates on a few things.

FUNCTIONAL CLOSURES

We weathered the COVID-19 Omicron storm through the month of January.  And while we saw some increased absences for both students and staff, we were able to accommodate staff absences with our on-call lists and some creative solutions by our school and district teams.  Thank you to everyone for your patience, understanding and efforts as we have been able to keep every Saanich school open during this latest COVID wave. 

COVID-19 HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Earlier this week, Dr. Henry announced a return to the health and safety protocols that were in our schools last fall.  You may recall that additional restrictions were put in place in December to help deal with the Omicron variant.  Those additional conditions have now been lifted and we have returned to the previous conditions.  You can find those conditions listed HERE if you are interested in reviewing them.

Some highlights include:

• In-person meetings are now allowed in schools (e.g. staff meetings).
• Audiences for events such as sports, dance, theatre and music are now allowed at 50% venue capacity.
• Assemblies and other gatherings restricted to only students and staff can occur at full capacity.
• Daily Health checks are still required for staff, students and visitors.

We are all excited about these changes and continue to look forward to even more health order restrictions being lifted in the days and weeks ahead.

COPACS AGM & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES – The following is a message from COPACS

The COPACS (Confederation of Parents' Advisory Councils of Saanich) Annual General Meeting is coming up on April 14, 2022. 

As you know, COPACS is an organization that represents parents, and we have a very influential role to collaborate with both District staff and Board Trustees, along with the individual PACs. COPACS makes a difference for the education community in SD#63.  In 2021 we supported a parent education series with Dr. Allison Rees, sought the views of 744 parents regarding vaccinations for SD#63 staff and provided input to a regional food security initiative. In 2022 we are going to support a nature education initiative with a working group of teachers and administrators from across our district.

COPACS is looking for volunteers to fill the following three critical positions. The positions must be filled for continuance of COPACS. Members are to be voted in at the April 14 virtual Annual General Meeting. 

• President
• Second Vice-President
• Recording Secretary

More information about these positions can be found on the COPACS website or by contacting copacssd63@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Dave Eberwein

Superintendent & CEO, Saanich School