Appreciate the miracle being performed by our schools
It’s October and it seems schools still haven’t gotten their act together. Students have been stuck in limbo while school boards have been scrambling to hire teachers and assign them to classes. It is easy to see why this has been described as “an absolute nightmare” by parents.
But amidst the chaos and criticism, what has been lost is an appreciation for the logistical miracle currently being performed by the schools in this province.
It is worth recalling how we got here. In early July, the Ontario government instructed school boards to prepare for multiple school reopening scenarios based on regional case counts.
While this seemed eminently sensible at the time, to many parents and media commentators anything but a full return to in-person learning was completely unacceptable.
Calls grew for the province to go back to the drawing board, which delayed the release of their reopening plans until the end of July.
This is not to let the province off the hook. Back in July, I wrote in these pages, “if the public is serious about children returning to schools in September, we should be doing everything to decrease community spread during July and August to as low a level as possible. That means not loosening restrictions or reopening businesses unless absolutely necessary.”
Yet, despite steady case counts, the province went ahead and moved to Stage 3. Is anyone really surprised that this led to a surge in cases?
It should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of human psychology that in addition to increasing opportunities for the virus to spread, people would eventually take this as a signal to relax their own personal safeguards.
School boards have been creating and staffing virtual schools that are larger than most Ontario school boards in a matter of days
The province compounded the problem by not reducing class sizes to allow for proper social distancing in elementary schools, a key recommendation of the Sick Kids school reopening guide.
School boards were caught in the middle of all of this. Given only a month to put together their own reopening plans, including the administration and staffing of both in-person and online schools, school boards had intended to finalize enrolments by the end of the summer in order to allow for a smooth reopening in the fall.
But rising case counts in September led tens of thousands of parents, wary about sending children back to crowded classrooms, to flood school principals and school boards with pleas to switch from in-person to online learning.
For example, in the Peel District School Board, elementary online enrolments went from 35,800 in late August to over 54,600 in September. Similarly, the Toronto District School Board now has over 66,000 elementary students enrolled in online learning.
In a regular school year, school staffing processes take three to four months to be completed. Yet, these school boards have been creating and staffing virtual schools that are larger than most Ontario school boards in a matter of days. I challenge critics to come up with a comparable feat that has been undertaken by any large public institution.
It is true that school boards could have stuck to their initial summer deadlines and have simply said to parents in September a version of, “Sorry, we know cases are skyrocketing and you are worried about the health of your children and family. But you already made your choice. Good luck.” If schools are guilty of anything, it is of trying too hard to satisfy everyone. But is that really so bad?
When the pandemic first hit, there was a public outpouring of appreciation and gratitude for health-care and front-line workers. It is worth remembering that right now, our teachers, administrators and school staff are moving mountains for the children, families, and people of this province. It’s time to show them some love, too.