It's been nearly two weeks since students across the province returned to their classrooms, and many schools still haven't received the COVID-19 safety items promised by the Alberta Government.
The Rocky View Schools (RVS) division was recently notified by the province that all first shipments of masks and rapid test kits should have been received yesterday (Wednesday, January 19).
In a written statement, Director of Communications for RVS, Tara de Weerd stated that many schools still haven't received the expected shipments, and they haven't been given a clear date on when they will arrive.
"As of right now many of our schools still have not received these shipments," says de Weerd. "We have no information from the government as to specific dates or times each school will receive the shipments.
In a conference on January 13, Premier Kenney stated that 58 per cent of tests and masks had been shipped to Alberta schools in the midst of a shipment delay from the Federal Government.
In her letter, de Weerd goes on to say that once the schools receive the items, RVS will move as quickly as possible to safely break up these packages individually to distribute to the hundreds of students and staff under the division.
de Weerd also addressed the staffing issue at RVS schools, saying many schools are shorter on staff than normal and the division is working hard to balance the need to provide these items quickly with the need to focus on teaching students.
On January 11, just one day after in-person learning resumed, RVS reported 129 teacher absences out of 1,412 teaching staff.