School fails to pass the smell test

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This article was published 16/03/2023 (1170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pungent odour smellier than a group of pre-teens after phys-ed has forced a St. James elementary school to evacuate until all the critters responsible for the fumes are captured and visitors can breathe easy.

Stevenson-Britannia School has relocated its students and staff members to makeshift classrooms in the community, after several skunks are believed to have forced entry and vandalized the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 building with their spray.

School administrators alerted families Monday about the unpleasant smell in the building.

As the week progressed, a series of follow-up notes suggested the problem was escalating and the stench had worsened because of difficulties removing “the animal(s)” from a crawl space.

Parents were told they could keep their children home if they were worried about the situation.

Principal Jane Couch said she has been working with division maintenance staff and external pest control specialists in recent days with the goal of ensuring adequate air quality inside the school.

“At this point, one skunk has been caught and safely relocated and the odour is dissipating. We have deployed ozone generators to filter the air and have made adjustments to our HVAC system,” Couch wrote in a statement.

“After all of the closures that they’ve had due to COVID and all the kids who have had to be away because they’ve been sick, what a funny reason to then have to take additional time off.”–Samantha Thomas

“What a silly thing,” said Samantha Thomas, a mother of two young children, the oldest of whom is a Grade 3 student.

“After all of the closures that they’ve had due to COVID and all the kids who have had to be away because they’ve been sick, what a funny reason to then have to take additional time off.”

The salon owner said her family is fortunate to have a retired grandparent who is available and can provide full-time childcare until the matter is resolved.

Mascot rebrand suggested

The school is in a residential neighbourhood on Silver Avenue, about 10 blocks east of St. James Memorial Sports Park, one of the largest green space areas in the city.

Following the eviction midday Tuesday, Stevenson-Britannia teachers have been delivering lessons in vacant rooms at the nearby Bord-Aire Community Club, Discovery Children’s Centre and Linwood School.

Couch said students are anticipated to return to their usual classrooms early next week. Friday is an in-service day.

Since posting about the unusual school closure on social media, Thomas said she has been laughing at numerous entertaining comments. One follower of hers suggested the school rebrand its mascot to the black-and-white mammals who sneaked into the building.

Missed instructional days problematic

While noting it has been an amusing turn of events and her daughter is thrilled to be playing puzzles and watching TV at home, she said she cannot help but feel concern about the continuous disruptions to traditional schooling.

The mother recently received a letter, which coincided with the 100th day of school, warning that her elementary schooler had missed 21.5 of instructional days — nearly a fifth of the 2022-23 academic year to date.

“We’re trying to play by the rules,” she said, noting her daycare-aged son is constantly bringing home illnesses so she has kept her daughter home more than usual, in line with public health guidance.

Prior to the pandemic, a student’s attendance record was deemed concerning if they missed upwards of 10 per cent of all classes for any reason, be it excused or unexcused.

Winnipeg’s Louis Riel School Division launched a virtual dashboard to share the worrisome trend of chronic absenteeism in its classrooms in late 2022.

Between 2014-15 and 2018-19, an annual average of 23 per cent of students were chronically absent from class. So far this year, 42 per cent of pupils have missed more than 10 per cent of the academic year in LRSD.

That figure has risen steadily every school year since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, after which there have been countless disruptions to in-class learning and all members of the public have been repeatedly urged to stay home if they are sick.

“It is going to have an impact on their education. I almost wish (my daughter) could start the third grade again, just kind of a do-over,” Thomas said.

The Stevenson-Britannia mother said she would like to see a “buffer year” introduced — not unlike Ontario’s now-defunct Grade 13 — to ensure that students affected by the pandemic are prepared for post-secondary education or whatever path they choose after graduation.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie