Calgary Catholic schools take precautions amid rising illness in schools

The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) is the first school board in Alberta to start its own health protocol to deal with rising illnesses in schools.

The district is calling it the “Make it to Christmas plan” and put this in place now that there are no COVID restrictions for the holidays, and Calgary schools are seeing the return of Christmas concerts.

But the CCSD is taking matters into its own hands to protect students and staff from the trio of respiratory illnesses sweeping the province.

They’re monitoring illness within schools with the CCSD Dashboard, which tracks students’ illnesses. If a particular school has more than 10 per cent of its students out sick or an outbreak is declared by Alberta Health Services, concerts and other large gatherings will be postponed or moved to a virtual event.

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It’s something Wing Li from Support our Students Alberta believes should be a provincial directive.

“We know that schools are community hubs, … that’s where all the children are gathering. And we know transmission occurs in schools, so the reasonable thing is to limit the transmission there so we can continue to enjoy the things outside of school. Those things are connected,” Li said.

“But I think the approach has been too much of a compartmentalization to the detriment of children.”

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Li believes that a lack of consistency on a provincial level is already leading to cancelled holiday plans.

“The consequence of not having mitigation is now this friend, that friend, or this event is being postponed anyways, I know a work Christmas party is getting postponed because of mass illness if you have a small staff pool and if some person’s out that spreads throughout the workplace,” Li said.

In a statement to CityNews, the Calgary Board of Education says it will continue to take direction from the province when it comes to health protocols.