Support for students and staff in Shelburne County after wildfires, official says

The last remaining schools in Nova Scotia’s Shelburne County that were closed as a result of a historic wildfire have reopened.

The fire prompted mass evacuations in the province and the closure of all schools.

A number of schools reopened last week.

Classes resumed Wednesday at Forest Ridge Academy, Barrington Municipal High School, Hillcrest Academy and Shelburne Regional High School.

Jared Purdy, the regional director of the Tri-County Regional Center for Education, told Portia Clark about CBC Radio’s Information Morning Nova Scotia that support has been set up for students affected by the outage.

Their conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity and length.

What has it been like for schools that were able to reopen earlier?

Actually very successful.

We have contacted individual families. That began with the process of working closely with our school administrators and identifying which staff would be most impacted.

It’s a very tight-knit community, so we had the reality of first assessing where our employees were.

From there, we were able to contact the families individually, inform them of the plan, assess well-being and readiness in terms of a return to school.

While most were ready, some were not and that was certainly OK.

But the reopening was extremely positive. The response was overwhelming in terms of the children’s excitement and happiness to return to a normal life, some routine. And of course the families were very happy that the children came back.

Is there another kind of plan for those who are not ready?

It was more or less logistical reasons why some couldn’t come back in the first few days, but at the moment our turnout is very good. Those schools are doing very well.

Can you tell us more about how it worked for the staff directly affected by it?

It worked directly with the directors to verify which personnel had been evacuated, which personnel had actually left the precinct altogether to seek alternative accommodation.

Also the reality that some did not know the status of their home. That was of course very difficult.

Leading with compassion and empathy was the biggest piece for us and not trying to push the boundaries in terms of reopening.

We found that some staff had clearly lost their homes, many had been displaced along with their children and pets. It’s been a very tough few weeks for us.

There are still some staff and students who are displaced or affected. Do you know that specifically for those schools that reopen?

We don’t have the exact numbers, but we do have a number of staff and students who have been displaced.

We know that some have lost their homes and for some it is the reality. Our thoughts are still with them. It’s an unimaginable time.

We have the resources to care for those people, whether they be staff, students or families. I feel that the support we have been able to provide with our regional response teams has prepared us for a successful and safe reopening.

What are some of those supports?

There was immediate support in the community.

For each school that was closed due to the wildfires, we have assigned a team of support staff who are available to support students and families in need.

That includes administrative support, teaching staff, support staff, our mental health people, our community partners, school psychologists.

We learned a lot from the document The heart of recovery through Alberta. We have learned many lessons from that document.

One of the big pieces was making individual contacts and reassuring families where we were and doing that as often as possible.

We provide breakfast, snacks and lunch free of charge for the rest of the school year.

Peace of mind – well-being, compassion, empathy – those are the guiding principles for us right now.

What do you do with assessments and exams now that you only have a few weeks of school left?

We are going to choose the best assessment path school by school to move forward.

That may be because there are no exams. The summative assessment may look different for each lecturer.

We have a ton of reviews done throughout the year.

The goal is well-being and taking care of everyone versus catching up on a lost curriculum for a week or two.

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