Update for Jackson Families
Dear Jackson Families,
I hope everyone has found time to enjoy the outdoors of our beautiful province this summer. Apart from June, it has been a long time without students learning in the building and the staff at Jackson are excited to have them back starting Thursday September 10th.
The Ministry of Education’s announcement of cohort sizes of 120 students at the high school level represents a significant change in practice for most high schools in the province, Jackson included. To achieve this cohort size, Jackson will be operating under a quarter system for upcoming school year. This means that students will take two classes at a time (for term 1) and these two classes will meet every school day for 10 weeks. The start and end times of our school day will not change (Start – 9:15 am, End – 3:36). After 10 weeks, Term 2 will commence, and students will take another two classes. The school year will have 4 terms.
Taking only two classes at a time did not reduce our learning cohorts below 120 students and we needed to rebuild the school timetable. This means the schedules that we provided in June WILL NOT be the schedules that students follow in September.
We are busy scheduling students for their Term 1 classes and once back in school, we will complete a modified course selection procedure with students to schedule the remainder of the year. We will do our best to meet some of the selected options for students but with a focus of maintaining learning cohorts, we will have less flexibility in elective choice. We hope to have Term 1 student schedules set by early next week at the latest.
In addition to rescheduling students, we are busy developing site specific safety procedures to ensure that we are providing the safest environment possible for our students and staff.
In the coming weeks, please continue to watch your emails and check the website for updated information regarding our safety plan, student schedules, and first day expectations.
Although this school year will look different from any other, it is the people that make the experience of education engaging and memorable. We have a caring and dedicated staff at Jackson and a fantastic student body and I am confident that we will be able to create a fun and engaging educational environment regardless of the differences of the 2020-21 school year.
Thank you for your patience through all the unknowns during this time and I look forward to providing more updates in the near future.
Steve Drapala
Principal