Schools to open in the face of a ‘new normal’

| 11/08/2020 | 48 Comments

(CNS): The Department of Education Services has released a schedule of key dates for the upcoming start of the new academic year under a ‘new normal’, given the concerns regarding COVID-19. While Cayman is now believed to be coronavirus free, there are still concerns of a resurgence and as a result students will be experiencing a new learning environment.

The schedule includes when each school will reopen for new students, regularly enrolled students, dates when Year 11 and 12 students will receive their final exam results and the orientation days for all new and transfer students.

These dates are relevant to all government schools including, primary and secondary level schools located on all three Cayman Islands.

Orientation Days are scheduled to provide new students and their parents with essential information. Parents are required to accompany their children to Orientation Day, which is mandatory for any student entering a government school for the very first time.

“As it stands now, the decision is to hold the new student orientations onsite,” said Acting DES Director Tammy Banks-DaCosta. “Any changes will be communicated by 19 August.”

See the full schedule and details on CNS Local Life.


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Comments (48)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Please stop with this “new normal” BS !
    Get back to life, time is running, don’t let this coronavirus imprison you.
    New Zealand just recorded new cases after months. So Cayman think it will be safe forever?
    If you know how many people had it symptomatic you will be surprised af!

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  2. Anon says:

    Will students have to wear face masks?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Nobody has a need to be wearing those currently.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I couldn’t keep my pants on my waist and they want kids to keep masks on their face..

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    • Anonymous says:

      If they do they’ll just be wearing them around their chins like 82.7% of people in the supermarket.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Would not send my child to school if a mask is required all day long. It’s actually unhealthy. Fact. Breathing out carbon dioxide only to breathe it in again is nonsensical and dangerous.

      Fresh air is best for us all.
      If you are sick, stay home until you are better. Same for your kids.

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      • Anonymous says:

        what scientific evidence do you see that when using a surgical mask that a person is breathing in their own carbon dioxide. Evidence indicates this is not the case but if what you say is true then I pity all those medical personal during surgeries etc. who are breathing in their own carbon dioxide. Please support your assertions with scientific fact

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        • Anonymous says:

          This is why all sports players all continue to wear face masks while they play, because masks absolutely has no effect on how much are you can take in.

          Oh wait…

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  3. Anonymous says:

    This is ridiculous. ALL summer camps on island were booked to capacity as soon as registration opened prior to the July 6th allowable date for camps to open. The kids have ALL been playing, interacting, hanging out, etc all summer. Along with their parents. There have been birthday parties, play dates, sports have restarted (Little League, soccer, etc). Given all of this has been going on with ZERO positive cases, WHY is there still a planned online learning component to the start of the school year for certain grades? You can’t possible say with a straight face its for a REAL safety concern!

    While we need to remain vigilant and take COVID seriously, the poor children have gone through enough and deserve to go back in person and as normal as possible. Why do patrons of bars not have to wear masks but my six year old is expected to wear one in class? At what point do we stop acting out of fear and blindly following protocols in place in other countries with a VERY different rate of active COVID cases.

    So disappointed in the so-called “Education Minister”.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It’s really just an excuse for a some Civil Servants to be able to stay home doing nothing for another two weeks.

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      • Anonymous says:

        That’s not true. All this civil servant bashing is extremely unfair. DES sent out a guidance and now refuses to re-evaluate hence the two week online learning remains. But do not believe that school leaders, teaching staff and admin staff will be able to sit and do ntn. Schools are in full gear now, in fact some persons have not yet been able to take a breather all to ensure that specific guidelines not supplied by DES is in place for the new school year.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Was referencing the others, who will use this as an excuse not to return because they “have children at home”. Mark my words

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          • Anonymous says:

            private sector employees will be doing the exact same thing

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          • Anonymous says:

            Nonsense ..teachers with school children who are expected to do online learning are required to take their children to school. These students will do online learning from school.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t forget the sleepovers that we’re taking place during the height of lockdown. #zerospread

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    • Anonymous says:

      Because those are all voluntary activities. There is a higher duty of care, i.e., do everything to reduce risk, when the activity is mandated.

      And the expectation is that CI will not be able to keep COIVD out indefinitely, without also keeping our economy out, so best to have a solid plan in place even if it might be overly cautious.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    This is a disgrace. No rational person can provide a reason why all the children should not be allowed back on campus on day one.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Schools should have opened aug 1. Not right before or AS borders are opened.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Teachers responsible to clean their own classrooms? Sounds like a disaster.
    Teachers never getting a break..illegal? If not sounds like burnout.

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    • Anonymous says:

      OK – screw it. You are right. Children can learn on computers from home with a number of free international resources providing excellent education across a range of subjects not otherwise available. You are all fired and the school premises can all be closed except for one to cater to those children with special needs.

      The government will save $100 million a year, and can spend $10 million of it to ensure everyone has adequate IT infrastructure.

      No need to clean any classrooms. We do not need them.

      Have you not just had 2 months fully paid vacation?

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      • Anonymous says:

        2 months full paid vacation? Dwl, you sound very uninformed. Firstly during summer teachers get almost 6 weeks off. If you do the math it’s not 2 months. Secondly, I and many of my colleagues have been to work almost everyday since the summer break started. Sorry to burst your bubble.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Ok. Fair enough. Now add your time at Christmas and Easter and mid term breaks. Then compare your position to hotel workers and taxi drivers who have no income, and would love your benefits and schedule. Yes you trained hard for them, but complaints about having to keep classrooms tidy when you know the struggles the families of those you are teaching are suffering, is simply tone deaf.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Ask teachers to give extra time and they do it, ask teachers to complete additional paper work and they do it, ask teachers to hold their pee because the kids cannot be left unattended and they do it, give teachers sudden and unrealistic deadlines and they meet them….and your concern is why can’t teachers clean/sanitize the room after each class? Who is really tone deaf here? As the bell rings another class is at the door waiting. Protocols dictates that the kids are not to be left unattended outside so who watches them while the teacher is busy cleaning? If the taxi drivers and restaurant staff are out of work why not try to gain employment with a cleaning company at a school so that they can earn some money? If a family is struggling they need to do something to change their situation. Ntn the teacher does will make it better for that family kmt.

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        • Anonymous says:

          First. (Never Firstly). You are a teacher, right?

          The lucky people in Cayman are the ones that have worked every day. The fact that you have been fully paid while working almost every day puts you in the exceptionally lucky category (exceeded only by postal workers).

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      • Big Poppa says:

        Lol. You’re a prime example why the gene pool needs a lifeguard. If I were you, I’d slow down with the idiotic comments before your a$$ gets jealous of the sh1t coming out of your mouth. Peace out.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    The new ABNORMAL

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    • Anonymous says:

      We are not living in NORMAL circumstances. Are you daft? Have you forgotten what has gone on worldwide in the last few months? Things will never be as it was. Get over it and adapt.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I don’t know which rock you’ve been hiding under, but daft people wouldn’t realize that the world was shut down for a virus that kills no more people than the common cold.

        It’s a hoax in order to push an agenda, and you are probably paid opposition to anybody talking about the:

        nEw abNoRMal!

        CNS: “COVID is a hoax” is a lie you have been told by right wing media and you need to get over it. Not even Trump and Fox News say it now. You must be clinging to Alex Jones or his ilk.

        Click here and scroll down to the graph of deaths this year in England and Wales compared to the 5-year average. A sudden spike of more than double is not a hoax to the people who died.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Cns👍

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        • Anonymous says:

          CNS, Simply compare the numbers of COVID deaths to flu and cold deaths for the past few years and be enlightened.

          Also, doctors around the world have been standing up to say the same thing- they just keep being censored as “fake news”, which is funny because it’s what you are trying to do to me and anybody else who opposes the “New Abnormal”!

          CNS: I literally posted a link that compares deaths from COVID to flu deaths (averaged over the last five years) in England and Wales. Here it is again. Sadly, I can’t make you look at it or try to understand it. Science and facts should not be a left/right issue and I think it’s only in the US where this is happening to the extent that it is. The scientific and medical community is learning more about this virus all the time but that’s not an excuse to listen to quacks in the meantime. Those doctors are censored as “fake news” because they are fake news.

          • Anonymous says:

            CNS you also are not taking into account the guidelines that the CDC put in place which states that they count just about everything under the sun as a COVID death, so the figures for the US are skewed.

            CNS: Yes, I realise that how the case stats are collected and who died of Covid and who didn’t will be debated for years, which is why the stats to look at are hospitalizations and use of ICU beds compared to previous years and deaths compared to previous years. The spike in the number of deaths this summer in England and Wales is startling and incontrovertible. I don’t know where to look for similar stats for the US or even if a national collation of these figures even exists, but no doubt these will be looked at in good time.

        • Big Poppa says:

          “Virus that kills no more people than the common cold”? Huh? So all the doctors are wrong, but yet here you are, Scheister Emeritus Know-it-All, smarter than all the doctors in the world… Your poor spouse.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Maybe we give you (and everyone with this thinking) a choice of entering 2 rooms without any PPE and staying for 5 mins. You must enter one. One room contains someone suffering from the common cold. The other someone with Covid. Which room are you going to enter ?

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      • Anonymous says:

        I have breaking news for you, this is not the first pandemic we have survived, nor will it be the last.

        And we did not have to transform civilizations and humanity to do so.

        Only thing that’s “new” is the level of absolute hysterics around this panikdemic.

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