Students are packing their backpacks and heading onto the bus after an extended Christmas break.  

Superintendent of Schools for Golden Hills School Division, Bevan Daverne, hopes to stop the spread of COVID-19 before students even get on the bus.  

“There's a new daily screening tool which is going out on our websites. I can't say enough about how good parents and families have been over the past number of months following that tool, and we're asking if they could continue to do this.” 

This new tool follows a checklist of symptoms. If students or staff have a symptom, they are asked to stay home.  

“We're still following our protocols; hand sanitizer is available in all of our schools. We still have enhanced cleaning during the school day and mask use remains the same as what we were doing. All students are required to wear their masks on the bus.”  

Bus drivers and students must have face protection at all times while on the ride to and from school. 

“We're all hearing from the experts that this particular variant is going to move pretty quickly through our population, and we want to do the best we can to keep our schools open and running.” 

Daverne explained that the Alberta government is providing masks and rapid at-home tests which should be arriving at the end of the week.