The schools in Brandon and Winnipeg are making space in their classrooms for hundreds of children displaced by forest fires who will not return home during the first bell of the autumn period.
“We ensure that our schools are hosting the places … making arrangements to have ready supplies, looking at staff, nutrition,” SUT of Brandon School Division. Mathew Gustafson told CBC News.
The families of evacuated students can register their children in the school division to which they have been evacuated.
The Minister of Education, school divisions and community organizations are working together, so “no student is left behind due to displacement,” said a spokesman for the province.
The Brandon school division has been preparing since June for different scenarios to support the students evacuated during the start of the autumn period.
Gustafson said the division has bought chairs to establish additional spaces in the classroom, brought back a school bus that had been removed to create additional routes and budgetary funds reallocated from vacant stalls until they are filled.
At least two schools in the division can accommodate additional students, and in others, they can establish classrooms in auxiliary spaces, such as libraries and personnel rooms, if necessary to meet the demand, said Gustafson.
“We have a role to play in the sense that we can support families and communities that have lost a lot,” he said.
Normality of Antojo
While the threat of forest fires has receded in recent weeks, there are displaced communities Waiting for Manitoba Hydro to restore energy after the electrical infrastructure damaged by the fire. There are areas where repairs are expected to last in mid or end of September.
Until Wednesday morning, there were around 5,563 still displaced by forest fires, the province said.
The staff of the Winnipeg School Division, including the elderly and knowledge guardians, goes to hotels, will meet with families and help with the registration process, as well as parents about the safety of schools, said Supt. Matt Henderson.
“There are probably families who do not trust the school system in Winnipeg or at least cloudy … we want to make sure we are doing it in a culturally receptive way,” he said.
“We cannot simply put it on posters or send an email. It simply will not work.”
With many evacuated in Winnipeg remaining near the airport, Henderson said they are also working on the Division of the St. James school to support families.
While the Superintendent still did not know how many evacuated will attend school, there could be around 400 in the province, he said.
With a week for the start of classes, the Brandon school division is considering that it potentially supports about 200 children, but over time it is expected that these numbers will decrease.
SUTIT. Gustafson said the division is leaving the leadership of the evacuated communities to decide whether they want to send children to the city’s schools or establish classrooms in the hotels.
Marcel Colombia First Nation, Delhia Hart-Francois, said that after almost two months of her homes, children in the Northern Community of Manitoba yearn some normality that they cannot get unless they go to school.
“It’s very important,” he said. “Education is the key to success, and they have been going to school in an urban environment. They should not have trouble making the transition to Brandon’s public schools.”
‘This is not your home’
The families of approximately 80 children from the first nation, located about 800 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg, have received instructions to register students directly with schools, and Hart-Francois said it is “safe”, most students will be in class next week.
Parents have already bought school supplies, while the first nation is organizing bus routes using their own trucks. But Hart-Francois said that the cost of both, normally covered by the province, must be reimbursed.
He is also worried about how students will be supported by the classroom so that they can catch up with the issues that may not have yet learned at home, so they do not “fall into cracks.”
Ervin Bighetty, father of three children in the city of Leaf Rapids in northern Manitoba who stays in Thompson with his family, does not plan to register his eight -year -old son at school during the first week of class.
“Some education is going to be lost. Some school will be lost, but I’m not sure I must be accustomed to this school environment,” Bighetty said. “This is not your home.”
In Leaf Rapids, the school is at a short distance from everyone’s house, and the number of students is small, about 50. It is also worried about the differences in the school plan that could put your child at a disadvantage.
Bighetty also leaves her family while entering Leaf Rapids, about 150 kilometers northwest of Thompson, to help replenish the local store before a possible return in September.
He is worried about the safety of his son and adding stress to his family while he is not close to help, so he is delaying registering it for the moment, waiting to see if the evacuation goes beyond mid -September.
“I don’t want my son to stay behind, but I don’t want my son to be in damage or danger either,” he said.
There are still more than 5,500 people displaced by forest fires, says the Government of Manitoba. That means that the beginning of the school year might seem a bit different for students who can’t go home.
