On Tuesday night the Government of Alberta announced changes to the public health measures that are currently in place and a plan to phase out restrictions over the next few weeks.
Starting on Monday, February 14 students will no longer be required to wear masks at school or when riding the school bus. Students may continue to wear masks on the bus or at school if they choose to do so. The Government will continue to provide schools with medical-grade masks to distribute to students who need them. Please contact your child’s school if you would like to have masks sent home for your child to use.
Masks will continue to be mandatory for all adults in schools, including school staff, visitors and volunteers. This is expected to change on March 1 when the province enters Step 2 of its plan to phase out restrictions.
After consulting with other local school divisions yesterday, NLPS has also decided to open school sporting events (games and tournaments) to spectators effective immediately. All adult spectators will need to be masked until the mask mandate for adults is lifted. Schools will also need to comply with any capacity limits that are in place. We ask for your patience and cooperation as we work out the details of what this will mean for some of our schools.
We are currently waiting for an updated guidance document from Alberta Education to see what other changes are being made to the requirements and recommendations for schools. We expect to receive that document by the end of this week. Until we have had an opportunity to review the new guidelines, our schools will continue to follow all of the other current protocols we have in place.
All students, staff and visitors to schools should continue to complete the Alberta Health Daily Checklist, follow the recommendations, and comply with any isolation requirements. There is a mandatory isolation period for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 or who has the core symptoms associated with COVID.
Thank you for your support and understanding as we await more information on what these new changes mean for our schools. We will do our best to communicate any additional changes as soon as we can so parents can make any decisions or adjustments necessary for their families.