Ontario, Public Schools, and COVID
The latest on return-to-school from the TDSB & Ontario Ministry of Education as of August 26th.
Source: Summerworks Festival
This evening (August 26th) we’ve received the final update for school re-openings over email, and with this information, parents throughout the TDSB must make a decision on return-to-school for their kids.
A RECAP from TDSB:
here is a recap for elementary students
and one for secondary students
LATEST RULES
rules are the same as recapped in my previous newsletter.
masks are required for all kids, classes capped up to 20-27 kids.
full-days, 5 days a week.
ONLINE LEARNING
hosted on Brightspace, not a lot of details given outside of this Memorandum No. 164 issued by the Ministry of Education.
Going through all of this information is overwhelming. I can’t imagine the experience for non-english speaking parents. It’s like signing a Terms of Use Agreement for an online app. Tons of scattered information overload, all sent at the last minute, and you have to make an immediate decision. The only difference? Our education plans are light on the details.
Have we done enough to prepare?
We have a lot of mixed signals. In this National Post article, a poll shows 4 in 10 parents do not want to send their kids back to school, and that 74% aren’t happy with Minister Lecce’s handling of school safety to prevent the spread of COVID.
While I take this poll of 760 people with a grain of salt, the top reasons Ontario parents are sending their kids back to school is interesting:
They need to play with their friends.
they can’t learn from being taught online.
emotional damage from not interacting with their peers.
Trust in the government’s safety plan doesn’t rank high.
Read a full recap of the poll here.
We even have coverage of Ontario's plan from The New York Times– and it’s scathing. From classroom sizes, back-up plans, and ventilation, the reports are mixed on Ontario’s readiness.
Yesterday, the Federal government felt it neccessary enough to announce an additional $2 Billion dollars to support the provinces in re-opening schools safely. This coming on the heels of “the plans” being finalized and schools preparing to re-open.
Some provinces even responded by saying it’s too late. There’s a lot of back-and-forth, blaming each other– you can read the gossip here in the Globe and Mail.
Prime Minister Trudeau expressed his own uncertainty on Tuesday:
“We are looking at what the schools’ plans are, we’re looking at class sizes, we’re looking at how the kids are feeling about wearing masks.”
In May, Trudeau was quoted as saying he would make a decision “at the last minute”, and it seems many parents are in the same boat as the PM– it’s time for us as parents to make the same last minute decision.
And the majority of us don’t feel 100% confident, a sentiment so important it warranted an additional $2 Billion dollars in Federal aid.
Who is responsible?
Schools look to the board, the TDSB points to the Province, the Province blames the Unions, the Federal government jumped in to do its part, and we have to figure it all out using the #OntEd hashtag on twitter.
School talk: ‘we’ve received the latest from TDSB’
TDSB talk: “The Ministry of Education has approved the TDSB’s plans”
Ministry talk: “we’ve given them everything they’ve asked for…”
Federal talk: “we’re providing is $2 billion”
It feels like everyone is trying to do what they're supposed to do, so that they're not liable. Our provincial and board level education governance model is broken, or at least flawed, and none of the parties have faith in each other. Why are we then asked as parents and as a society to have faith in them collectively?
It feels like we, are the ones responsible. We have been given the information needed to make a decision. They have done ‘everything they can’. They are doing the best with what they have. Our teachers will have to make the best of their situations, and so will the kids.
At the end of the day, it seems we are the only ones responsible.
Is now the time to do things differently?
I feel we need better. If you’re exploring an alternative model to Community Based Public Education (especially if you live in Parkdale), feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below.
Please excuse typos (or let me know!)