By Staff

September 4th, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

Deciding to send your children back to school has been an anxious exercise for most parents.

Deciding what is right for your child – and changing your mind later.

It has been a challenge for school board staff who have to figure out how many students will be taught in a classroom and how many will be taught virtually.

Will there be split classes – possibly was what trustees learned earlier this week.  They were assured that there would not be any three different grades in a single classroom.

Where is the wiggle room for parents who have not yet made up their minds or who want to change their minds.

Parents can change their minds: The last day to switch between in-person and virtual learning is Tuesday, September 8. You must call the school and advise the principal.

Every school goes through a bit of a re-organization during the second half of September – there is sometimes a need to move students around to balance the load.

The opportunity to change a delivery model (i.e., in-person, virtual) will be: November 30 or end of Term 1 (mid-February).

For Secondary students (Grade 9 – 12) the time to change delivery model (i.e., in person, virtual) will be aligned with the end of quadmesters: November 12 or February 5.

School office staff will follow up with every family who has not completed the survey as the survey requires parents/guardians to complete the Self-Assessment Acknowledgement form (part of the survey).

By Pepper Parr

September 2nd, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

There is still a lot of confusion on the part of parents as well as many of the teachers.

But come Tuesday of next week you will be taking your young ones to school – assuming you didn’t opt out for a virtual classroom.

Your job as a parent begins today: students – especially younger ones will need help in coping with the really big change that will take place at every school.

Explain to your child what will be different when they return to school – and why things are going to be different.

The Halton Board of Education will be meeting this evening; we will report on what we learn – expect updates on a number of issues.

Let’s stick with the bricks and mortar structure. There will be one door to enter and a different door to leave the building.

Don’t have the child take very much to school the first day – the rules on what elementary students can bring to school will be set out for them by a teacher who will be dressed in full PPE – which might be a little startling for the student.

There will be a lot of rules and as a parent you can do a lot of the prep work in the next handful of days.

Take your younger children to places where there are markers on the floor and explain what they mean and why they are in place.

Explain why they have to wear a mask and why they can only play with the friends in their class.

And that they can’t get too close to those friends.

Explain what social circles are and how that might limit who your child can actually play with.

The job for parents of early elementary children:

• Tighten up social circles
• Practice physical distancing
• Follow good hand hygiene and respiratory
etiquette
• Wear face coverings in indoor public places and when physical distancing cannot be maintained
• Explain to the child that at some point what that means.

Director of Education Stuart Miller sees himself as personally responsible for every student in the HDSB

Schools are doing their best to keep parents fully informed – the difficulty is that the rules change – sometimes by the hour.

The Board of Education has to listen to what the Halton Region Public Health Units requires and follow the dictates of the province.

Halton District School Board Director of Education sets out just what he has to deal with – “everything is fluid and dynamic”. “We have to be smart, be focused and realize these students are our responsibility – my responsibility when they are on school property.”

Michele Bogle

August 31st, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

In this segment of an ongoing series the article addresses continuing concerns as well as new ones. All of the staff and parents in this series have signed the “Intent to Return” Survey. The group participating is mixed with regard to whether their child is ‘distance learning’ or returning to school.

The participants in this series are real. Their names have been changed to preserve their identity.

Dr. Hamida Meghani, – Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Halton – in the most stressful job of her career.

We’ve learned from Halton Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Meghani, that the Health Protection and Promotion Act, requires a member of a household who tests test positive for the virus must self-isolate for 14 days.

Last Wednesday, at a virtual Town Hall, we learned that 16,000 have chosen distance learning over classroom attendance.

The Board is now scrambling to create three elementary and one secondary, virtual schools which calls for a significant deployment of teaching staff.   The virtual schools will follow the traditional curriculum for both elementary and secondary students.

There were no specifics in the outline during last Wednesday’s town meeting with regard to Special Education classes. Details that were needed earlier than the August 23 deadline, in order for parents to decide whether their child returns or not. Grace Penny and her husband adopted two elementary aged children who require additional attention. Because of the lack of planning to make an informed choice she and her husband have opted to keep their children home. Grace added that there is a great financial burden associated with keeping their special needs children home. A decision, not made lightly. She continues that there is separate funding but that their combined income excludes them from qualifying.

Special Education Teacher Paul Pratt had questions about the use of shields instead of masks. Are there funds being allocated for these ‘in person’ students who are no longer sharing materials? Will the teachers be asked to use the materials that they have already purchased for their students and will they be reimbursed?

What will the ratio of EA’s be in these classes to meet needs in the new scenario? Superintendent Podrebarac spoke of “a host of choices” for protective gear but didn’t specify.

Superintendent Terri Blackwell with Director of Education Stuart Miller at the original registration for the iStem program at Aldershot high school.

Superintendent Blackwell addressed the subject of transportation in last Wednesday’s meeting. Each school bus would now be loaded to capacity, potentially three to a seat. While windows can be opened until the onset of colder weather, without the spacing earlier suggested, would the wind from the open windows blowing air directly into faces not much more than two feet behind in each row pose a health risk?

In this same meeting ventilation was addressed within the schools. For some older schools the standard code was for a class window to only open four inches for the safety of the children, when built. For some, like the classroom Sandra Parker taught in, there were no windows. This poses great concern for many of her colleagues and for those of Maria Vanelli’s.

Some teachers like Maria have a ‘high risk’ family member at home and have opted for virtual teaching. An answer to which would give her and her family great comfort in knowing if the Board will accommodate her.

Mila Sanchez and her husband, parents of two elementary aged girls, grades two and four works outside of the home. They are unable to find after school care for their children, a problem shared by many of their friends.

The carpets will not be on the floors in Halton schools – those toys would be sanitized after every class,

Elementary school teacher Maria Vanelli discussed that she was pleased about the new decision to have students in grades 1-3 wear masks. She suggested that parents might want to practice with their kids before the start date, 10 minutes a day gradually increasing the time. It would be of great help to the teachers. Her final thoughts, “Goes to show how COVID is affecting all aspects of life , from education to shortage of caregivers to added stress on all of us.”

Library Information Technician Carmen White would like everyone to keep in mind that, “It’s going to be scary for everyone and we need to realize that people deal with all of this differently and we need to be KIND to each other. Reality is, there isn’t the space, teachers or money for smaller classes, so we need to do the best we can.”

I hear an unyielding sense of frustration from parents and teachers. The Board has no easy task and no perfect plan, and not enough money to make it all right.

Michele Bogle is a Burlington resident who writes for the Gazette on community issues. She has written several children’s books for ages 4-12, which can be found under the pseudonym, ‘Cameron S. Matthews’. Michele studied journalism from the University of Pennsylvania.

Related news stories in the series:

Part 1:

Part 2: