Some Okotoks businesses are rethinking their space for the fall to offer an option for parents not quite comfortable with back-to-school.
After hearing a lot of talk from friends and on social media about parents who were nervous about their children re-entering schools in the fall, but had no choice due to working full-time, Erin Kerr-Trethart decided to open up her studio at Heart to Sole Danceworks for distance learners.
“It’s the ability for them to have a little bit more of a normal situation where they can still interact with their cohorts and still have exercise time and some outside time, and have their own workspace, but not have to follow the same strict guidelines as school because we wouldn’t have nearly as many people,” said Kerr-Trethart.
With 7,200 square feet of space throughout the building, including three 1,200 square-foot dance studios, there is plenty of room for students to be spaced out while they tackle their online and distance learning, and parents who need to work full-time can do so and not have to worry about schoolwork getting done in their absence, she said.
Depending on registration for their learning hub, she said students may be broken into age-appropriate groups by grade level in each of the rooms, with elementary-aged, junior high students, and high school students in separate spaces.
“Then they would be with that age-appropriate cohort all the time,” said Kerr-Trethart. “They would alternate lunch breaks and outside breaks to keep everyone safe.”
A staff member from Heart to Sole would be on-hand to clean all touchpoints throughout the day, including washrooms, eating areas and workspaces, she said. Staff would also be on-hand for assistance with schoolwork for younger children and technical help for older students.
“They have space for creativity and enjoying other peoples’ company but still getting their work done so when they get home their parents didn’t work all day and now have to do homework with them because they didn’t do it all day,” said Kerr-Trethart.
That was the main reason for opening the studio to learners during the day, she said. As a parent herself, and thinking back to her childhood, she wondered who would have stayed home and whether that would have been an option when she was growing up – both parents had to work in order to pay the bills.
Her goal was to make the studio functional during its typically vacant hours while providing a safe and affordable option for parents at $165 per week for younger students who receive two hours of direct help daily, and $125 for Grades 4 and up with multi-student discounts available for families with more than one child attending.
COVID-19 policies and precautions are in place with hand-sanitizing stations and temperatures being taken upon arrival, and masks are not mandatory but welcomed if families feel more comfortable with the face covering in place, she said.
Health and safety measures are also in place at The Park, where Homework Hub and Creative Kids programs are being offered beginning in the fall. Parents there have options to register for two, four or five days per week.
“Just like you would do homeschooling or how we did online schooling when they were pulled out of school in the spring, we kind of take the pressure off the kids and assist in that for the individual children,” said Sara Rae, co-owner of The Park.
While not an official homeschool program, The Park is offering afternoon sessions for school-aged children to receive homework help with two or three adults on-hand. In addition, the Creative kids program is aimed at younger, preschool-aged children in the morning or afternoon.
She said the indecision and trepidation among parents in the community led to her decision to repurpose The Park, an indoor playground and creativity space, into a hub where students of all ages could be engaged and get their schoolwork done without having to be in school.
Government regulations have cut The Park’s capacity by half, to 27, but Rae said they are further limiting the number of children registered in their learning programs to 12, and each student will have their own, physically-distanced workspace at a table.
“We’re really trying to accommodate the needs of where parents and children are, not being comfortable having them go into a classroom setting with 25 or 30 kids and schools with hundreds of kids,” said Rae. “We put it out there as a small business that’s able to switch and accommodate.”
For more information on either program visit www.hearttosoledanceworks.com or www.theparkonline.ca.
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
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