Schools in Brandon and Winnipeg are making room in their classrooms for hundreds of children displaced by wildfires who won’t be back home for the first bell of the fall term.
“We are making sure that our schools are welcoming places … making arrangements to have supplies ready, looking at staffing scenarios, nutrition,” Brandon School Division Supt. Mathew Gustafson told CBC News.
Families of evacuated students can register their children in the school division they have been evacuated to.
The minister of education, school divisions and community organizations are working together so “no student is left behind due to displacement,” a spokesperson for the province said.
Brandon School Division has been gearing up since June for different scenarios to support evacuated students during the start of the fall term.
Gustafson said the division has purchased chairs to set up additional classroom spaces, brought back a school bus that had been retired to create additional routes and reallocated budget funds from vacant positions until they are filled.
At least two schools in the division can accommodate additional students, and at others, they can set up classrooms in ancillary spaces, such as libraries and staff rooms, if needed to meet the demand, Gustafson said.
“We have a role to play in that we can provide support for families and communities that have lost a lot,” he said.
Craving normality
While the threat from wildfires has receded in recent weeks, there are displaced communities waiting for Manitoba Hydro to restore power after fire damaged electrical infrastructure. There are areas where repairs are expected to last into mid- to late September.
As of Wednesday morning, there were around 5,563 evacuees still displaced by wildfires, the province said.
Staff at the Winnipeg School Division, including elders and knowledge keepers, are going to hotels, meeting with families and helping with the registration process, as well as talking to parents about the safety of schools, said Supt. Matt Henderson.
“There are probably families who don’t trust the school system in Winnipeg or at least leery of it.… We want to make sure that we’re doing it in a culturally responsive way,” he said.
“We can’t just sort of put it on placards or send an e-mail. It’s simply not going to work.”
With many evacuees in Winnipeg staying near the airport, Henderson said they are also working the St. James School Division to support families.
While the superintendent did not yet know how many evacuees will be attending school, there could be about 400 in the province, he said.
With a week to go before the start of classes, the Brandon School Division is looking at potentially supporting about 200 children, but over time those numbers are expected to dwindle.
Supt. Gustafson said the division is leaving it up to the leadership of evacuated communities to decide whether they want to send children to city schools or set up classrooms at hotels.
Marcel Colomb First Nation Chief Delhia Hart-Francois said after almost two months out of their homes, children from the northern Manitoba community are craving some normality they can’t get unless they go to school.
“It’s very important,” she said. “Education is the key to success, and they’ve been going to school in an urban setting. They should have no problem transitioning into Brandon’s public school system.”
‘This is not his home’
The families of roughly 80 children from the First Nation, located about 800 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, have been instructed to register students with the schools directly, and Hart-Francois said she is “very confident” most students will be in class next week.
Parents have already purchased school supplies, while the First Nation is organizing bus routes using its own vans. But Hart-Francois said the cost of both, normally covered by the province, needs to be reimbursed.
She is also concerned about how students will be supported in the classroom so they can get up to speed on topics they might not have learned yet at home, so they don’t “fall into the cracks.”
Ervin Bighetty, a father of three from the town of Leaf Rapids in northern Manitoba who’s staying in Thompson with his family, is not planning to enrol his eight-year-old son in school for the first weeks of class.
“He is going to miss out on some education. He’s going to miss out on some school, but I am not sure he should be used to this school environment,” Bighetty said. “This is not his home.”
In Leaf Rapids, the school is in walking distance from everyone’s home, and the number of students is small, around 50. He is also worried about differences in the school curriculum that could put his son at a disadvantage.
Bighetty is also leaving his family while he goes into Leaf Rapids, about 150 kilometres northwest of Thompson, to help restock the local store ahead of a potential return in September.
He is concerned about his son’s safety and adding stress to his family while he is not around to help, so he is delaying registering him for the moment, waiting to see if the evacuation goes beyond mid-September.
“I don’t want my kid to fall behind, but I also don’t want my kid to be in any harm or danger,” he said.
There are still more than 5,500 people displaced by wildfires, the Manitoba government says. That means the start of the school year could look a little different for students unable to go home.
