The 麻豆传媒AVeast Cornerstone School Division brought former superintendent Kelly Hilkewich out of retirement to head up a committee to help the division reconnect with the local communities and parents in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hilkewich was the guest speaker about the committee鈥檚 work at the Weyburn Rotary Club, at their first in-person meeting in over a year on Thursday at the Legion Hall, and he explained how he鈥檚 been reaching out to the community to start this process.
The school division is looking for support from civic and business leaders, as well as from community agencies, and Hilkewich has been busy doing interviews to collect information as to what is needed for everyone to reconnect with each other.
The school division is reaching out because since the pandemic started with the big lockdowns in March of 2020, parents and members of the community have not been allowed in the schools, and no school events have been permitted, from basketball and volleyball games to student conferences and graduations.
鈥淪chools are getting bombarded with questions, such as why are students having to wear masks, or why do we have to go to school, we don鈥檛 feel safe there,鈥� said Hilkewich, noting that Cornerstone has hired a trauma specialist to help them out, because COVID was a world-wide trauma.
鈥淭he pandemic is a traumatic experience. Usually trauma happens in a single event and it鈥檚 localized. That鈥檚 not the case now, as everybody鈥檚 affected,鈥� he said.
To assist in this project, Cornerstone has engaged the services of Kevin Cameron and the North American Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, an expert who has worked with local teachers and educators in the past.
鈥淪ince we started this three weeks ago, he鈥檚 been called away twice,鈥� noted Hilkewich, as Cameron was called to deal with the impacts of the finding of children鈥檚 bodies at the Kamloops residential school, and with the incident in London, Ont., where four members of a Muslim family were killed by a motorist.
鈥淲e are contacting our community leaders and decision makers, like business leader Mal Barber and the Chamber of Commerce, and we鈥檙e asking what did you see work, what did you see as trouble? We need to see what our community is facing and to work together as a community of leaders by re-engaging our families back into our neighbourhoods, schools, churches, businesses and communities,鈥� said Hilkewich in explaining the committee鈥檚 purpose.
The committee is working in three core communities in the southeast: Weyburn, Estevan and Moosomin, he said, and he reached out to civic leaders and agencies in each of those communities.
There are four main questions that Hilkewich posed to leaders, like Mayor Marcel Roy: are you seeing a connection gap from services in your families or individuals? Are there new disconnects? Are there any themes, such as addictions to drugs or alcohol, online sexual abuse, acting out, anxiety, sleep disorders? And have you talked about the next couple of months about strategies to reconnect?
Agencies such as mental health, social services and addictions, are telling them that mental health is an issue, such as with anxiety, depression and drug/alcohol abuse, and some agencies are being overwhelmed with increased caseloads but without face-to-face contacts.
He鈥檚 also found there has been little planning for the future, because in the past year and a half, every time plans were made for events, activities or programs, they had to be cancelled as another wave of COVID would come up.
In-school counsellors have found there is a big connection gap in schools with parents and for students, as without face-to-face meetings, they can鈥檛 see a student鈥檚 body language or have those personal conversations by doing everything online.
Civic leaders have told Hilkewich that there is a lot of frustration and anger, such as with the requirements to wear masks, and anti-maskers are becoming more vocal. In addition there has been polarization in companies as younger employees are being pulled to extremes, against public health guidelines or in favour of them, with very little middle ground.
Hilkewich pointed out there has been a change for the positive in the last couple of weeks, as he began doing interviews of leaders while dealing with the latest wave of COVID infections, but within two weeks as vaccinations rolled out, there have been more and more feelings of optimism.
The school division will take the data and responses they are now collecting and draw up a plan for reconnecting, and within the next month the assessments of where communities are at will be sent out to the community and business leaders.
鈥淎fter the data is received, we need to formulate what the plans will be,鈥� said Hilkewich.
鈥淭he teachers I know have been doing a fantastic job, whether it鈥檚 Holy Family or 麻豆传媒AVeast Cornerstone,鈥� commented Rotarian Brenda King, a former teacher who often substitutes in classes.
鈥淗ow do you bring a community together? Leaders need to hear all of the opinions and understand where each is coming from. It鈥檚 a complex issue and there are no easy answers for sure,鈥� said Hilkewich.
