THUNDER BAY - Two local school boards say the province made the right decision keeping schools closed for the rest of the academic year, but unions representing teachers in Ontario say their concerns are being ignored.
The provincial government announced on Tuesday that all privately and publically funded schools in Ontario would remain closed for the remainder of the academic year.
“It wasn’t totally unexpected given the circumstances,” said Lakehead Public School Board director of education, Ian McRae. “But we are looking forward to September and we hope things will be marginally better so we can pursue the initiatives we’re used to.”
McRae added there would have been significant challenges to resume the school year given the public health guidelines that remain in place, particularly practicing physical distancing.
Schools across Ontario have been closed since March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and students have been learning at home online.
“We want to make sure instruction takes place virtually and that students develop the skills to move on to the next grade level,” said Pino Tassone, director of education with the Thunder Bay District Catholic School Board. “That is our number one priority.”
“We are getting better and better as we speak. Our staff is becoming more comfortable. They are thinking outside of the box and I think they will use a lot of the skills they have learned as they move forward toward normalcy.”
But two unions representing teachers in Ontario say while they are pleased with the government’s decision to keep schools closed, teachers are facing many challenges and the Ministry of Education is not listening to their concerns.
“Our teachers are finding it a tremendous challenge,” said Rich Seely, who represents teachers through the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation bargaining unit 6A.
“They don’t necessarily have the technological means either in their own experiences or what they have at home to carry out everything students might want.”
Seely added that Minister of Education Stephen Lecce is still pushing synchronous or real-time learning online, but some teachers and students don’t have access to the technology to make that happen.
“They might not be as savvy with technology as some of their colleagues or they may not have the internet capacity to deal with that or some students might not have the internet capacity to participate in synchronous learning,” he said. “It is an equity issue. Not all students can benefit from that.”
“These expectations are just going to create more anxiety for teachers and students alike.”
Students were also told their marks would not change due to the shutdown of schools, which Seely said resulted in teachers reporting lower engagement among students, in some cases as low as 30 per cent.
Carlo Cappello, president of Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association’s secondary unit, added transitioning to a virtual learning environment has been difficult for some teachers.
“In some cases, I’ve heard teachers say they are working more hours than they did before because they are basically revamping their entire classes to ensure kids with special needs to participate,” he said. “Text and print is such a hard medium and some kids don’t have access to the internet so they have to prepare physical documents as well.”
Lecce said the province will be ramping up summer learning programs and there will be an announcement by the end of June regarding what reopening schools could look like in September.
Both Cappello and Seely said it is difficult to comment on what things will look like in the fall without knowing the government’s plan, but it needs keep in mind the health and safety of both students and staff.
“We care about our students and we care about our members,” Seely said. “We want everyone to have a safe and healthy teaching environment and getting back to normal is what everyone wants, but we have to do it safely.”
But Cappello added the government is not always listening to teacher’s voices.
“Unfortunately, the ministry hasn’t been taking any of the advice of teachers or people in the classroom,” he said. “They have been focusing on parents groups and people they feel are their stakeholders. It would be nice if they were able to take our concerns into consideration when they put plans forward.”
