‘Back to school’ was never like this

The Sault and area’s two English language school boards have, and will continue to have for many weeks, a lot of information to digest and a lot of planning to do after Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce, in a news conference Friday, announced the provincial government’s plans for Ontario’s elementary and secondary school students for the 2020-2021 school year.

As reported earlier, school boards will be asked to plan for the following three scenarios to be implemented in September, depending on the local public health situation at the time:

• Normal school day routine with enhanced public health protocols - Students going to school every day, in classes that reflect standard class size regulations.
• Modified school day routine - Based on public health advice, an adapted delivery model has been designed to allow for physical distancing and cohorts of students. Under this model, school boards are asked to maintain a limit of 15 students in a typical classroom at one time and adopt timetabling that would allow for students to remain in contact only with their classmates and a single teacher for as much of the school day as possible. This model would require alternate day or alternate week delivery to a segment of the class at one time.
• At home learning - Should the school closure be extended, or some parents choose not to send their child back to school, school boards need to be prepared to offer remote education. Remote education should be delivered online to the greatest extent possible, including the establishment of minimum expectations for students to have direct contact with their teacher at the same time on a regular basis, also known as synchronous learning. Synchronous learning can be used as part of whole class instruction, in smaller groups of students, and/or in a one-on-one context.

On Friday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce stated school boards in regions where the COVID-19 curve has flattened will step up to a more conventional type of learning, high risk boards will be scaled back while low risk boards would move on to the next stage.

“We have already begun the initial process of contacting parents to determine what their level of comfort might be in having their children return to a face-to-face setting in the fall,” replied Rose Burton Spohn, Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (H-SCDSB) director of education, in an email to SooToday.

Burton Spohn said the Huron-Superior board is establishing several working groups which will be meeting during July to create back to school plans and, during August, prepare those plans for implementation.

Those working groups, Burton Spohn wrote, will include Catholic Principals Council Ontario (CPCO) as well as board employees represented by unions such as the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and the  Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF).

“We have reached out (to those groups) to determine how they would like to be involved in the planning process,” Burton Spohn wrote.

“We recognize that we are in the beginning stages of creating a plan that will no doubt take greater shape during the summer.”

“The Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board is pleased to receive this information from the Ministry of Education and to know that the province has placed such a high priority on the health and safety of all students, families, and employees working in the education sector,” Burton Spohn wrote. 

Algoma District School Board (ADSB) officials were not immediately available for comment.

The board’s senior administration officials were meeting with school principals Friday, anticipating it may be next week before a comment could be provided, stated Fran Walsh, ADSB communications officer, in an email to SooToday.