Onion Lake Cree Nation students will be heading back to class on March 8.
Onion Lake Chief and Council and Education are moving forward with re-opening the schools to grade 1 to 12 students under a hybrid model. Under the hybrid model, students will be split into two groups with one group going to school from Monday to Thursday and the other group studying from home. The groups will alternate every week. The schools will be closed on Fridays to be deep-cleaned and all students will study from home.
In the classroom, students will be placed with other children from their area in order to keep them within a bubble. The areas listed are north, east, south and west. Students will not be allowed to interact with other bubbles and breaks will be scheduled to avoid mixing bubbles. Desks will also be spaced to ensure proper social distancing is kept.
Bussing will also be bubbled to areas and students will be given assigned seating. Students from the same household will sit together even if they are going to different schools. A bus monitor will take temperatures, hand out masks and hand sanitizer as well as ensure the students are sitting in their assigned seats. The bus will then be disinfected with a fogger after every trip.
The nursery, head start and kindergarten students will continue home studies and will receive work packages while the daycare will continue to operate as normal. Leadership says they will be contacting parents and let them know which group their child is in.
Onion Lake has also extended their shutdown and border closure measures to March 19.