As we have entered step 2 of the provincial government's reopening plan the majority of our restrictions have now been lifted. Classes and chapel services are in person, masks are optional, and carefully planned social activities are returning. Staff, faculty and students are required to stay at home when sick and follow provincial government isolation requirements for covid symptoms.
As of Monday, January 31, 2022, we will be returning to on-campus and in-person instruction while practicum classes are recommended to remain remote for the foreseeable future.
The Executive Lead team has been watching important indicators externally from AHS and the public school system, as well as internally tracking and surveying our student body. We also felt that one more week of online/remote teaching would give us a little more time to see indicators plateau and decline plus allow faculty and students time to prepare for a return on on-campus delivery. As you know, we are always guided by two primary values: a) to make sure that Vanguard is a safe place for its students and staff, and b) to ensure the accomplishment of our mission.
During the first week of the winter term, we observed a higher-than-normal percentage of students needing to isolate, which we are attributing to the contagious nature of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. We expect this trend to continue in the next two weeks which will put a strain on our ability to provide a complex range of accommodations for students. Because the college wants to mitigate any possibility of on-campus transmission and acknowledge our limitations in providing hybrid learning, the Executive Lead Team has decided that beginning this Tuesday, January 11, all classes will move to remote learning. This will allow the college time to monitor the situation and listen to the advice of our public health officials. Further updates will follow by Friday, January 21st.
As you are aware, yesterday evening the province of Alberta declared a public state of emergency and instituted a range of new measures to help combat the spread of Covid-19 in the province. We continue to review these new measures carefully, but please note the following immediate changes to how we operate:
We are in communication with Alberta Advanced Education and continue to monitor developments. Further details will be provided in due time.
While the college strongly recommends getting vaccinated, we are not currently planning to implement a Restrictions Exemption Program that would require proof of vaccination for staff or students. Instead, we have re-instituted physical distancing into all our campus spaces to enable on-campus classes. We are working closely with Advanced Education and other key constituents to assess our ongoing response to COVID-19.