School re-opening: reactions & numbers
A look at the latest TDSB and Ontario government re-opening announcements.
Image source
Reacting to the wrong things?
Outrage at Stephen Lecce 😱
Toronto Star: TDSB scrambles after province rejects board’s plan for reduction in class sizes. CP24: Ontario government says the plan does not involve enough class time. Director of TDSB: saying it would take a “miracle” for schools to re-open (who says that?) and the news feasting on it. TDSB chair: “losing faith in people who fund Public Education”. Taxpayers. Taxpayers fund public education.
THE SITUATION FEELS LIKE AS MESSY AS THAT PARAGRAPH. ☝
The Ontario government takes polarizing stances. Either it’s hybrid learning from their original plan, or regular cap classes (this tweet nails it). It feels like the TDSB & Trustee ideas are limited to doing things the same way as before, with 10 less kids in the class, and all wearing masks.
I’M LEFT WITH QUESTIONS
Is there a risk / safety chart I’m missing? Are we saying this is less risky, but still a risk? Are the increased teachers at risk? Is a 20 student class the same difference as 25 or 30 kids?
WHAT ABOUT THE MASKS?
Aside from risk analysis, do we want to make our kids wear masks all day inside of a classroom? Do all classes have great AC and ventilation ready to go? Even if we did, does it sound normal? Would you do it if it were you?
The Numbers
Here are numbers pulled from TDSB communications. Notice the lack of real changes to the day-to-day experience of kids.
GENERAL UPDATES
hiring of an additional 366 teachers
redeployment of 400 central teachers
if every student returned, 34 schools would be short of space
just 4 schools would be short of space if 80% of students returned
official start delayed to Tuesday, September 15
WEARING MASKS
ALL students and staff wear masks/face coverings.
in line with the overall City of Toronto requirements which require anyone over the age of 2 to wear a mask/face covering in indoor public spaces.
HIGH RISK COMMUNITIES
JK/SK classes capped at 15 students
Grade 1 to 8 classes capped at 20.
REGULAR RISK COMMUNITIES
JK/SK classes capped at 26
Grade 1 to 3 classes capped at 20
Grade 4 to 8 classes capped at 27
ONLINE LEARNING
live online learning throughout the day
caps of 29 in JK/SK, 20 in Grades 1 to 3, and 35 in Grades 4 to 8.
To achieve these class sizes, the TDSB has used money from TDSB Reserves ($29.5M), the Ministry ($6.3M), and the regular TDSB budget ($2.9M)
There has always been a reserve budget to make education better. And it takes a pandemic to unlock it. Not a great look.
Thinking out loud
My #1 reaction is I’m not expecting any children 5 - 17 years old, to wear a mask, inside, all day. Even if they have recess and lunch.
I’m not pretending that this is safe for teachers, and I’m not pretending it’s safe for students. And I won’t put it outside of the realm of possibility that schools can be disrupted again.
IT’S POOR FORM TO BE REACTIVE
Completely so, and since the last newsletter, the school year is already pushed back by 15 days. I feel we could have been planning this for months in advance. This isn’t a case of government / TDSB, same-old-same-old Ontario PCs versus teacher bureaucracy. Our adults can do better to change the status quo. I fear it won’t change for some time, because the system depends on it.
Repeating: the status quo of education governance must change beyond this pandemic– we should not educate our kids using their standards.
RE-CONSTRUCT THE EDUCATION MODEL FOR OUR KIDS
Right now our kids learn subjects. Other models aren’t new: project based, experience based. What does community education look like?
Can we teach our kids models of applied design thinking to prepare them for their future? Covering models like context, perspective, resourcefulness and solutions based thinking? Can they learn these things in a novel way?
COMMUNITY DRIVEN PUBLIC EDUCATION
There are ways to dedicate my time to my kids’ education, and to possibly open up Public alternatives to education outside of the brick & mortar school system.
Public education is great. I don’t think the entire K-12 experience is the only system that can best equip our kids for the future. Private schools don’t think so either, giving an enhanced version of the same system for $20k per year.
I’d love it if my doctors, dentists and engineers went to the best schools and Universities. In the meantime, for K-12, I feel our kids can benefit from community based public education.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM BOX, LITERALLY
20% at home learning & living
20% just outside
20% on community research trips
20% online
20% learning about, preparing and eating food
NEEDS A VILLAGE OF PARENTS
This type of program will need at least one parent that’s either stay-at-home dedicated to the kids, or one that has a flexible at-home work schedule.
In the future, with a bigger “village” on board, a program like this can be accessible to more parents. I think the goal is to make sure that this is a “public alternative” to public education, not a replacement. We need to prove the model first. It’s not for everyone, and it’s not government run.
ENRICHED SOCIAL LEARNING
what if we connect our kids through a focus on community based projects?
integrate social, cultural and equity based curriculum?
integrate advocacy, voice and the navigation of relationships?
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
kids will tackle long-term social community projects
Think “design thinking challenges”
these projects will be real and co-led by two to four parents
students will research and document their findings
students and parents will co-develop projects with community stakeholders
kids will compile and publish their projects privately and online
parents and industry experts will be guides for kids
and more! (podcasts, documentaries)
Kids as young as Grade 3 can be responsible for their learning– and our next steps are to formalize a model to empower them.
More thinking is needed…
I’d like more than anything for a safe school system and a regular school year. And I’m sure we’ll get there again over the next 2-3 years.
In the meantime, it sounds like we have a fair bit of work to do, that will take a lot of time, co-ordination, and planning a new way of living and learning with our kids.
We need to think of this especially if it will help the public school system create a safer environment for all of the teachers & kids returning to classrooms.
I think starting small and proving a model that’s accessible to families across all communities is the first step. While I keep my personal life private, I’ll be sharing an update on our progress towards community based public education in Toronto that’s free and funded by nobody.
If you’d like to contribute, collaborate, or have thoughts, either send me an email or leave a note below.
Sources: https://twitter.com/search?q=ontario%20tdsb&src=typed_query + TDSB newsletter.