The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE resumption of face-to-face instruction on Grand Bahama continues to progress very well, according to District Superintendent of Schools Ivan Butler, who reported a high turn-out of teachers and students during the first two days.

“There were no disruptions and most of our teachers reported for duty on Monday,” he said yesterday.

Mr Butler said a minimal number of teachers had been absent on the first day.

“No more than 10 in the entire district were out. All 98 percent of the teachers reported for duty on Monday.”

He said the number of students who attended school on Tuesday was better than Monday when some 75 percent attended school.

“Student turnout was more today - over 80 percent attended and it is climbing every day.”

Prior to the opening of schools, Dr Frank Bartlett, head of Grand Bahama’s COVID-19 task force, met with the schools last Thursday via Zoom and conducted evaluations at some institutions.

He believes “it is important to get back and to have that sense of normalcy”.

Dr Bartlett noted that Grand Bahama has been fortunate in that COVID- 19 infections are low among the paediatric population here on the island.

He urged parents and teachers to continue practising the public health safety measures put in place to avoid infecting their children and students.

After months of virtual learning at home, students returned to the classroom this week for face-to-face instructions throughout the country in a hybrid model.

Minister of Education Glenys Hanna Martin has pledged to help transform the face of education in the country, noting that too many students have “fallen between the cracks” amid the COVID- 19 pandemic.

“The big challenge... is not so much in the schools themselves, but it is from parents and teachers acquiring the infection on the outside and infecting children who come into school,” Dr Bartlett said.

On Saturday during the launch of the free COVID-19 Test Facility in Freeport, Dr Bartlett said parents should not be sending asymptomatic children to school.

“I know it is a challenge and everybody is tired of babysitting and having to miss work and everything else now, but we still need that level of cooperation to make sure our schools are safe.”

He noted that the disease is not prevalent in the paediatric population.

“Our under 17 (years of age) population we see mostly affected by COVID is on the lower side, and we would like to keep it that way.

“We are very fortunate in that when we speak to the private physicians in the paediatric sector, we are not having as many persons test positive in the paediatric population. And those who do are usually the ones travel-related or have been in exposure to family members.

“Again, it all goes back to practising public health safety measures we have in place and staying away from mass gatherings and wearing masks. I think it is very important that that message resonates and goes throughout the community.”

Dr Bartlett said the Grand Bahama task force meets with the school groups on a monthly basis. He said they met last Thursday with 348 attendees.

He said that protocols are in place to ensure that the school environment is safe.

“We still have some schools that we still need to go into to evaluate.”

Through these evaluations, he said the task force takes note of the workflow and is able to identify any deficiencies so they can be corrected.

“We look at how (students) move in between classes. We make recommendations as to what they should do and how to manage those classes. So, when we look at our case in Grand Bahama, we have a pretty tight and cooperative set up whereby we get feedback,” he said.

He added: “If we have a case, we have crisis management.”