Ready or not, school’s back
There’s something missing from the conversation surrounding schools reopening: the voices of those who are happy that in-person learning has returned.
My husband and I knew all along that our children would return to their brick-and-mortar classrooms when this became available, without hesitation.
In part, this is because I, too, will be returning to school as an educational assistant, supporting students with developmental disabilities, but also because our own children’s needs will be better met in their school setting.
In the sea of uncertainty that remains around what school will look like, I feel confident that my classroom team will continue to sail a ship where our students’ safety guides the helm and their learning environment shifts to serve their individual needs.
The colourful ads displaying trendy back-to-school essentials remain relevant to our family, and to many others. Excitement continues to fill our dinner time chatter when we talk about who our children hope to be their teacher.
There are many of us who anticipate the year ahead without fear for what may happen and focus on the opportunities for learning, growth and collaboration it will bring. Megan Thorpe Ross, Pickering
Is it back to the boos for Premier Ford?, Salutin, Aug. 21
I’m disappointed with Ontario parents. As a secondary student, I already see janitors working tirelessly, and teachers (particularly French) in short supply. Classrooms are full. Elderly bus drivers are common; school boards share buses.
Rick Salutin joined those oversimplifying things, saying “All Doug needed to do is mandate 15 per class.”
Shouting “abracadabra!” doesn’t make it so. Halving classes requires doubling teachers, janitors, drivers, schools and buses. With at-risk workers quitting, even maintaining current numbers is difficult. Where will these resources come from?
I’m no supporter of Ford, but his plan regarding reopening was reasonable. We can’t expect perfection. We’re lucky to reopen at all. Derek Schultz, Milton
Ontario has no plan for kids with disabilities, critics say, Aug. 23
Advocacy groups are correct that “good planning” is required. However, the provincial government is not a “failure,” as these groups state. The government has provided guidelines that allow each board to look at the specific needs of their community in order to plan for individual community needs and requirements.
Where were these advocacy groups before the coronavirus in ensuring that students with disabilities achieved a “fully and safely included” environment?
Where were these advocacy groups in ensuring that the boards and staff were ensuring that the individual education plans of students met Ministry of Education standards? The failure of the government was in not ensuring that boards of education met their legal duties as stated in the Education Act.
Students with disabilities have received less than what they are entitled to for years. The pandemic just emphasized the shortcomings within the educational system in Ontario. S. Rangoussis, Scarborough
Parents fear pandemic will lead to more exclusion of special needs students, Aug. 26
After Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird’s disappointing emphasis on congregated sites to address the needs of special-education students (Ontario students with disabilities face more obstacles returning to class, advocates say, Aug. 22), we are pleased to see that TDSB superintendent of special education, Angela Nardi-Addesa, is instructing schools that pandemic protocols cannot be used as a reason to exclude students and that students unable to wear a mask or to properly physically distance will be accommodated.
More than half of TDSB’s students and thousands of students all over the province with disabilities are not in specialeducation classrooms. These students will need to be accommodated in a way that does not force them to accept a congregated site or online learning as the only viable “safe” option for their return and participation. Paula Boutis, Integration Action for Inclusion
There is one issue I have not heard about: replacement or supply teachers, who are called in when a teacher is absent.
Replacement teachers move from school to school as needed. Will a replacement teacher be assigned to one school or will they be allowed to move between schools?
If a student in a replacement teacher’s assigned class tests positive for COVID-19 and the replacement teacher is instructed to isolate for a period of time, will the replacement teacher be paid for the time in isolation?
And if a replacement teacher tests positive for COVID-19, will the teacher be paid until they test negative? Eric Proctor, Peterborough
As a retired elementary french and music teacher, I wonder why the matter of itinerant teachers is not being addressed in the news about school re-openings?
I travelled from classroom to classroom, with my supplies on a cart, to teach many different classes at all levels, from Kindergarten to Grade 8.
Although I was often based in one school, there were many years when I had to travel to two or three locations.
Will COVID-19 accommodations be made for those teachers who specialize in these subjects? Gail Salem, Barrie
The premier has decided to send our children back to school. We should consider the full ramifications for such a move.
I question the ability to hire enough teachers and 500 qualified nurses within the usual time frame. Will these hirings deplete the number of nurses now in the hospital system?
I feel the premier should move slowly in returning our children to an environment where groups of more than 10 will occur normally and unmasked.
Why not implement more worksharing for parents, reduce class sizes for students by scheduling alternate fullweek attendance and increase COVID-19 testing for every student in the province?
Let’s prove this is not a political proposal, but a medical and scientific decision. Gord Galloway, Toronto
Kindergarten during a pandemic ‘just too stressful to contemplate’, Aug. 22
This article presented a variety of problems, but few answers.
Why not allow early childhood educators (ECEs), who are specialists in dealing with children three to five years of age, to teach half of the smaller classes? The boards of education and the province could work toward smaller JK and SK class sizes by using ECEs, who are already co-teaching in the kindergarten classes.
All of us have had to make compromises due to COVID. This is one the teachers’ union must make.
As well, the province must step up with funding to ensure ECEs are paid a fair wage that reflects the fact they are now the only teacher in a smaller Kindergarten class. Maureen Chorney, Mississauga