The road getting kids back in the classroom will be a long and complicated one.
Bob Crawford, project coordinator with the St Clair Catholic District School Board, says while he knows parents and teachers are anxious about how things will look come September, there’s a lot to take into consideration, including input from parents.
“I think over the next four weeks we’ll take all that information, and we take a lot of direction from the Minister of Education plus our Minister of Health and our local Medical Officers of Health, we’re going to put all that together and come up with the the best practices that’s going to follow all the recommendations from these other government authorities,” Crawford says. “We also can’t forecast what’s going to take place over the months to come and the progress of the infection rate.”
Crawford joined the English Catholic board just last month to help put together a board-wide plan for reopening schools.
Meantime, John Howitt, Director of Education for the Lambton-Kent District School Board, says they’re trying to come up with a variety of options, as directed by the province.
“Part of the reason we’re creating multiple scenarios for September is that we’re going to need contemporary data, and more specifically the provincial and local Medical Officers of Health will need data to give us guidance about what model to implement.”
Earlier this week, the NDP called on the provincial government to come up with an immediate plan including guarantees that parents will be able to access paid, job-protected leave until school and child care resumes, the hiring of more teachers, and funding for student transportation to allow for physical distancing.