In a couple weeks, hundreds of local public school students are moving back to in-person learning.
After being out of school for over five months, students returned to the classroom for September.
“Overall it’s going incredibly well. And I want to put that in the context of incredibly well during a pandemic because there are so many things that are different," said Lesleigh Dye, District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) director of education.
When students went back to school, they chose between distance and in-person learning.
At District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1), the first deadline to change from one model of education to another has passed.
According to the school board, 352 students have a different record from the first and second rotations. There are 278 students (197 elementary kids, and 81 high schoolers) moving from distance learning to in-person, 67 (seven elementary and 60 secondary) are going from in-person to distance, there are six new students, and one student isn't returning.
"What happened for us late August and early September was about 20 per cent of our overall enrolment chose to participate in distance learning," explained Dye, adding she found it was "a bit on the higher side".
Dye said she hasn't talked to families about why they are changing models.
“I do know some feedback that some of the families felt the commitment for the synchronous learning that the Ministry of Education outlined was a very high commitment and that they were finding it difficult to support their child for an entire day of learning, five days a week,” she said.
The change will happen Tuesday, Oct. 13.
For elementary students switching models, she said there will be a change in teachers. While there may be a difference in where in the curriculum the classes are, she said distance learning and in-person teachers are following the same curriculum.
At the secondary level, Dye said the schools are doing a one-period day. They are finishing up the first rotation, and Oct. 13 is the start of the next one.
COVID-19 has meant new challenges for the board.
Dye said the workload for staff members is higher, there's been a bus driver shortage, and the delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the beginning of the year "could have gone much smoother."
"But saying all of that the staff have come together and have really made our schools just great places to learn for our students,” she said.
Absentee rates for staff and students are "extremely high right now," said Dye, who said part of that is due to the screening tool that was being used.
"I think we are with the brand new screening tool that’s been implemented today, we are going to see more students in school,” she said.
With a shortage of supply teachers, the board is putting out another call for unqualified supply teachers.
“We welcome any individuals, any adults who have a passion to work with students and who are interested in working on a daily basis to apply to that posting,” she said.
The first callout was in August, and Dye said a number of teachers were hired.
"Even with all of those efforts, we have at least three teaching jobs across DSB1 that are not filled on a daily basis, and that would have been after the principal has done all the work of reassigning teachers, of sometimes themselves, covering a class. That continues to be a challenge for us in DSB1,” she said.
She also noted that typically late October and into November is flu season, and the board's absences increase.
