Educators, students gear up as schools remain closed
Teachers available by email as ministry launches online portal for Grades K-12
In an alternate universe without COVID-19, Ontario students and teachers would be heading back to the classroom today after March Break vacations and staycations, ready to resume the remaining months of their school year.
Instead, schools will remain shuttered across the province for at least another 14 days to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus while educators and their pupils do their best to continue learning remotely and accept the fact that countless questions about education in the coming weeks remain unanswered or unanswerable.
“It’s a bit surreal,” said Tristan Nuyens, a business and math teacher at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Kanata. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. So it just feels a bit odd having to be at home when we should be going back tomorrow.”
Nuyens is one of countless teachers across the province who will log into their email today ready to field questions from students and families trying to navigate school-at-home until April 5. The Ontario education ministry launched an online portal Friday that will serve as the central hub for K-12 students who want to keep learning during the provincewide closure of all publicly funded schools.
There’s bilingual and interactive TVO and TFO content for elementary students. High school students can access online course material. More will be added in the coming days, according to the ministry, and if the decision is taken to extend the school closure beyond April 5, a second phase of the online portal will be launched.
Nuyens said he thinks some of his students will take advantage of the online resources — there are some who asked to take home textbooks after the schools closure was announced. But that’s not the case for everyone.
“I do know some high-school students are not going to bother, they’re going to say ‘Well If I’m not being marked on any of this, I don’t need to pursue it.”
There are also students who simply won’t be able to adapt easily to online learning even if they want to, whether because of learning exceptionalities, proficiency in English or French, socioeconomic situations, or availability of technology at home.
“Equity of access is a huge concern for us,” said Cathy Bailey, president of the teachers’ bargaining unit at the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF) Ottawa-Carleton district.
“There are lots and lots of questions,” said Bailey. “I think that top of mind right now is that we have at least the beginnings of an outline of some sort of digital platform accessible to some students, but huge questions remain in terms of how other students can be supported.”
And it’s not just students whose capacity to participate will differ.
“You have some teachers that are raring to go in their basements with some equipment, and many other teachers don’t even have internet access that can sustain delivery of teaching,” said Rémi Sabourin, president of the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), the union representing teachers at French-language school boards.
The ministry has said it’s working with the school boards to provide “the necessary technology ” to every student without computer access.
As for all the teachers who now find themselves unable to go into work, Sabourin said his members with permanent and long-term contract positions don’t currently have to worry about not getting paid. The same can’t be said for on-call supply teachers, he noted. While some school boards have elected to pay them, that’s not the case for everyone. Sabourin said he hopes to see a directive from the ministry ensuring that they all receive compensation.
OSSTF president Harvey Bischof said the heads of all the major education unions contacted the province indicating their desire to be consulted as the ministry of education makes plans to address the COVID-19 health crisis. They received a response Friday night indicating this will happen.
“I’m grateful for that,” said Bischof. “I hope the consultation is real and meaningful. It needs to be in the best interest of our students, and we stand prepared to co-operate.”
The situation is rapidly developing, and everyone is playing catch-up, said Bischof. “I have no criticism for that ... I think an appropriate decision was made to close schools on the advice of public health authorities, and now there are some pieces to figure out after that, but that’s the appropriate sequence.”
Of course, everyone wants to know as soon as possible if the school closures will extend past April 5. But here, too, Bischof said he understands that the ministry can only make that call when public health authorities are prepared to offer a recommendation. “I think that is absolutely the right path to follow, to listen to the science and the medical expertise.”
“When there is clarity from them, there’ll be clarity for us, I guess. And in the meantime there won’t be, but we’ll just have to do the best we can under difficult circumstances.”
In the meantime, many teachers stand ready to support their students’ learning as best they can, according to Laura Wheeler. She’s a math teacher and teacher librarian at Ridgemont High School in Alta Vista.
While Wheeler said she and her colleagues have been instructed not to assign anything that students are obliged to complete over the next two weeks, they can post content to their classroom websites. She’s also been told to be available by email, and she encouraged parents to reach out for help when it comes to their child’s at-home learning.
“Your classroom teacher is there for support,” said Wheeler. “This is not a vacation for teachers – teachers are ready and willing to work, they’re just waiting to hear the word go."