THUNDER BAY – Parents and students will have a limited window to determine whether or not they want to learn remotely in the fall.
Both the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and Lakehead Public Schools have opened windows for students to register for virtual classes.
Public board registration opened on Friday and will close in one week. The Catholic board opened registration on Thursday and elementary students will have until April 26 to make a decision. High school students at the Catholic board will have until June 1.
Administrators at both boards said they need as much lead time as possible in order to satisfy agreements with unions and allocate the proper resources.
“The reason why there are tight time frames is that there are staffing implications and the ministry has said they will not fund our virtual schools for the upcoming school year, so it’s very important that we know what those numbers look like so we can staff for the new school year,” said TBCDSB director of education Pino Tassone.
Tassone estimated it cost about $6 million to run a virtual school option for the current school year and said it will probably cost in the range of $3 million to run one again for the first semester of the 2021-22 school year.
A decision will be made on the second semester at a later date.
He added the virtual option is not guaranteed at this point, though at some point it may be dictated by the province.
Both Tassone and A.J. Keene, superintendent of education at Lakehead Public Schools, said ideally most students will choose the classroom option.
Currently each board has about 1,200 students learning remotely full-time, though because of a province-wide mandate, all students will take at home classes for at least the next two weeks as COVID-19 cases soar in southern Ontario.
Keene said Minister of Education Steven Lecce has publicly stated school boards should be prepared to open virtual classrooms. He added he knows it’s tough for parents and students to make an informed decision in April about the upcoming school year, but it’s unavoidable.
“We have a process in place and that process takes quite a bit of time. Last year we managed a very chaotic August and September to get our virtual school opened and we’re hoping we’ll be able to do so in a manner that’s easier on families, is easier on kids and easier on our staff,” Keene said.
Keene said the board has pushed back the window as late as possible, noting some boards in southern Ontario have also started asking for decisions.
“We certainly understand the difficulty,” Keene said.
Both Keene and Tassone said they’re hopeful vaccination progress continues, saying it could be a game-changer for the in-person learning model, even though at present children 15 and younger are not eligible to be vaccinated.
Tassone said educators by and large were disappointed to learn students wouldn’t return to class in Thunder Bay next week as planned, which is why he’s hopeful fewer students opt for virtual learning in the fall.
“We know that in-person learning is the best for our kids, for many reasons, especially for their well-being. They learn best when they’re engaged with their teachers and with their classmates. That social interaction is crucial,” Tassone said. “At the same time, we recognize things have changed, that there is a place for some of our families that have anxious children or parents, that they may want to transition into a virtual school.”
Both Tassone and Keene said there will likely be some flexibility to enter the virtual stream closer to the school year should the COVID-19 situation change for the worse in Thunder Bay.
