Pandemic playing havoc with high school co-op placements

Co-op work placements for area high school students are a mixed bag of cancellations, postponements, virtual participation online or in-person assignments.

The province's move to a state-of-emergency lockdown on Dec. 26, combined with the extended closure of school buildings until Feb. 10, has affected those students looking to gain high school credits along with valuable exposure and hands-on experience at workplace job sites.

Most placements in the trades, with the exception of hairstyling, continue to take place, said Josh Canty, the superintendent overseeing student success and alternative education for the Greater Essex County District School Board.

The board has between 550600 students in co-op programs this quadmester while the Windsor-essex Catholic District School Board has approximately 400 coop students.

Since the school year began, the COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with co-operative learning.

Some employers didn't offer positions to students in the fall, feeling it was unfair when members of their regular workforce were laid off for pandemic-related reasons.

Other businesses were shut down completely.

“It basically depended on the employer. If they were open and the student could work there safely, they were allowed to continue,” said Stephen Fields, communications co-ordinator for the Catholic board.

COVID-19 protocols and procedures became part of a student's checklist of required health and safety training.

Canty said some placements have students “working on things virtually for the employer.”

In other cases, guidance counsellors and co-op teachers have pushed placements to the next quadmester.

Some students without a placement are doing teacher-driven coop assignments.

Canty noted some students were forced to leave a placement to stay home with younger siblings.

Fields said the Catholic board has developed some creative alternative programming for those unable to participate in their original co-op placement.

Some students, he said, have enrolled in a virtual program through St. Clair College to earn credits toward high school and college diplomas.

Some are tutoring elementary students, and still others are earning credits by participating in virtual sessions with guest speakers.

Meanwhile, the Lambton Kent District School Board, which oversees 12 high schools in and around Sarnia and Chatham, has adjusted its curriculum so in-person co-ops are no longer required to graduate.