The Rocky View School Board met for the first time on Thursday, since school started last week.

During the meeting, the board discussed school reentry and talked about how this year will have a big learning curve for everyone.

Around 22,500 students returned to class in person, while another 3,000 have opted for online learning and around 250 students are ding homeschooling with the support of RVS.

Superintendent Greg Luterbach told the board there’s still a lot of shifts and requests being made to change the learning options that were selected by parents.

He said in some cases parents mistakenly chose the wrong option like homeschooling instead of online learning, while others have discovered the choice they made isn’t the right fit for their child.

“It’s been a massive logistical challenge,” said Luterbach when describing the efforts to get both options up and running while making sure schools had access to supplies of masks, hand sanitizer and other necessary items.

At this time they are looking at those requests to change learning options on a case-by-case basis and will make decisions based on the needs of the student and the resources available to accommodate the change.

When it comes to online learning, the Superintendent said that will continue to be a work in progress. Around 120 teachers have moved to teach students online. The non-traditional learning comes with its challenges as teachers figure out how to teach classes in different ways. RVS has hired some additional support staff to help those teachers with lesson planning and connecting them with resources.

RVS adds there will be a chance in February for students and parents to reevaluate the style of learning they’ve chosen and they will have an opportunity to switch from online learning to in-person and vice versa.