Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools Superintendent Karl Germann says 2020 will be a year no one will forget, but he is proud of the work done by staff as they continue to wade through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Germann says, after schools shut down in the spring, he wasn’t sure the district would get a bounce back toward normal come the fall. However, as the first leg of the school year has wrapped up, he can truly appreciate the work put in.
“The only thing we’ve done is plan, re-plan, and change things in the last nine or 10 months just to make sure kids are receiving a quality education, and I have to say… we are really satisfied where we are at,” he says. “I’m not sure we would have been in this place when we originally started the school year, but I’m glad we got to Christmas.”
Germann adds one of the keys to the plan was the ability to keep students in school as best as possible, and, if possible, make sure that learning continues in a better way than it did in the spring. He says while he knows teachers and staff as well as students are exhausted after such a long semester but says he remains floored at their ability to adapt on the fly.
“I’m always impressed with the work teachers and support staff do with kids, and how resilient kids are to different things that occur.”
He feels that the general public could take a page from the school’s planning book as the fight to stop the spread of the virus continues.
“If the communities would act in the way that schools act we could really push this down and return to normal, as the schools have had a few cases, but by and far they haven’t really impacted anyone in a significant way.”