With information flowing and changing at an unwieldly pace in the early weeks of the pandemic, communication with parents and employees was an essential part of the board’s action plan. “All directives came from the ministry and public health authorities, so as soon as we would get new information, we would communicate it to parents immediately,” says Maxeen Jolin, Communications Coordinator at SWLSB. “It was challenging, because directives would change from one day to the next, depending on the evolution of the situation.”

While keeping parents informed about the ongoing situation with school closures, the board had several urgent concerns to tackle. “Our first priority was to create a safe working and learning environment,” says Paolo Galati, Chair of SWLSB. Galati says that immediately following the announcement of the initial two-week school closures, the board placed orders for personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as hand sanitizers in order to ensure that schools would have what they need in the event that students would return to school in the weeks that followed.

Another challenge was supporting board employees who were required to transition to work-from-home scenarios and ensure they had the proper equipment and tools. To support students in the early weeks of the pandemic, the board created the SWLSB Virtual Learning Backpack, an online resource for students that contained educational activities for all subjects and grade levels.

Teachers were given several training opportunities to learn how to implement virtual teaching technologies, such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams and Zoom video conferencing.

Throughout those challenging months, many initiatives were brought forward to create a sense of ‘normalcy’. Some examples include the student wall calendar contest, videos and pictures published on the board’s and schools’ social media accounts to keep people connected, as well as a major student talent show, the “Hope Fest”, streamed live from the board’s Facebook page last May. The show featured pre-recorded talent videos submitted by students and hosted by local radio personality Vinny Barrucco. In June, an initiative called the Check-In Café was launched to offer support services to students from grade five to secondary V who may be experiencing stress or other emotions related to the pandemic and school closures.

While school and centre teams were busy adapting to new ways of teaching, five of the board’s schools were on the front lines as emergency daycares and more than a dozen health care teachers and students from vocational education programs were deployed in the CHSLD’s.

With the board’s Commitment to Success Plan encompassing the words ‘engage’, ‘build’ and ‘achieve’, the past few months have put that commitment to the test. As the situation is ever-evolving, even as these words go to print, one thing if for certain. “Sir Wilfrid Laurier has demonstrated that we are resilient and we’re going to face this pandemic together, whatever comes our way,” says Galati.