07/12/2021
Hi all,
Like last year, we are keeping a close eye on the availability of school facilities for community use. At this time, the school boards are still unable to open things up to the community.
Hopefully, as we move through provincial stages and guidelines to open things back up, we'll see some positive news that allows us to resume classes.
Every school board's primary obligation is to the safety of their students. This means there's still a chance (like last year) that if schools open up to our kids for day to day learning; the community may not be allowed to use school facilities.
Community use of schools was (is) a fantastic resource and we've been lucky to have access to these locations for so many years.
Losing this resource will likely hurt many organizations as the number of venues to operate things like Martial Arts, Fitness programs, birthday parties, etc... will greatly diminish.
I hope the schools will be able to find a way to continue offering this service, even if it means stricter health/sanitary policies in light of what we've all had to endure since the spring of 2020.
As we get more information, we'll be sure to post updates for everyone.
In case we can't go back to using school gyms, if anyone has other venue options they'd like to share, don't hesitate to let us know :)
Keep in mind that we generally follow the same yearly schedule as schools do (September to May/June) and so many of the months for class will occur during winter; so heating is important.
The location must also have washrooms; and if possible, a good spot to use as a change room (if there's no actual change room).
We've used the washroom as a change room in the past, if the washroom had enough space to do so.
Carpeted flooring is not desirable (rug burns aren't fun); but we've done that before too (those really low profile, hard office-type carpets).