Guidance counsellors in our District have been fielding phone calls for several weeks from parents who are reconsidering their original placement for their child.

As reported to us from our members the reasons students/parents are now choosing remote learning is:

A) Students do not feel safe in class—too many classmates in their classrooms. Sharing a room with 30 others with less then 1m of space is a lot when you have been advised for the past 6 months to physically distance at a minimum of 2m.

B) Wanting to be able to stay in touch with grandparents/immuno-compromised relatives and realizing school will limit that ability

C) 4-5 hours in one single classroom is too much.
@SCDSB_Schools had a two-course per day model that was originally “approved” but then “rejected” at the last minute by @Sflecce. That plan would have allowed for more variation in the school day.

D) Increase covid concerns throughout the community. Barrie (the largest centre in Simcoe) had only 16 cases in all of July—-last week alone, @smdhu reported 35 cases in Barrie.

Whatever the reason above it could have been avoided or alleviated if @fordnation and @Sflecce planned properly.

Opening bars and clubs before schools increased the amount of transmission in the community and gave people license to ease physical distancing. Unsurprisingly Covid numbers went up.

Requiring boards to rework previously “approved” plans has caused wholesale last minute changes that has made for a chaotic reopening. Teachers and administrators have been unable to plan properly.

Insufficient funding to school boards has resulted in busses across the province cancelled/delayed for hour+, lack of physical distancing in classrooms, and schools needing to collapse courses and combine classes

You can probably tell that I am frustrated. Frustrated barely scratches the surface. As a parent, as an educator, and as an Ontarian I am beyond disappointed in the mishandling of the #onted school reopening plan by @Sflecce. #firelecce