NEWS RELEASE
DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD ONTARIO NORTH EAST
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DSB1 Board of Trustees to Review DSB1 School Re-Entry Plans (July 23, 2020) – District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1) continues to work on draft plans to re-open schools in September. The Board of Trustees will gather, face-to-face in both Board offices, for a special board meeting on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, from 10 a.m. to noon to review these plans. Trustees and staff will follow the safety precautions, including wearing masks where two metres of physical distance cannot be maintained. Unfortunately, we are not able to host face-to-face stakeholders for this meeting. Please join us for the live streaming on the DSB1 YouTube Channel.
“We are taking direction from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and following guidance from the Porcupine Health Unit (PHU) and the Timiskaming Health Unit (THU) on these plans,” said Board Chair Bob Brush.
Staff will gather input from trustees for the draft re-entry plan. No final decision will be made as direction from the Ministry is pending.
DSB1 will continue to gather input from families through the Parent Involvement Committee and from community members part of the Special Education Advisory Committee and the Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee via email. Chair Brush adds, “We will not be able to host in-person consultations before sharing final plans once the Ministry of Education announces in which model the 2020-2021 school year will start”.
The Ministry of Education is set to announce in which of the three models the school year will begin on August 4, 2020.
The three potential scenarios are:
- conventional model with enhanced public health protocols;
- adapted model based on cohorting (15 students) and alternate day delivery, and;
- distance learning.
The DSB1 draft plans anticipate and consider a variety of critical areas for all three models, including:
- Health and Safety
- Physical Distancing
- Learning Environments
- Staff and Student Attendance
- Special Education
- Mental Health and Well-Being
- Student Transportation
- Food Preparation
“We are working on a series of strategies to make our schools safer. We are also preparing a communication plan to inform our families and our communities of these strategies and what the start of the 2020-2021 school year will look like, said Lesleigh Dye, Director of Education. She adds, “We understand our families need this information to make an informed decision on whether or not they will be sending their children to school in September.”
Families will be required to pre-register their child to attend school once the model is confirmed by the Ministry of Education. An online survey administered between Aug. 5 through to Aug. 14, 2020.
Further details and updates will be shared on the DSB1 website at www.dsb1.ca, on the board’s social media channels and through local media.
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