The first day of the 2020/2021 school year is in the books and the real test will soon begin as more students head back to local classrooms throughout the week.
The staggered start to the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) year saw elementary (Kindergarten to Grade 8) students with surnames A-G attend classes today while high school students in Grade 9 also went back to class on Tuesday.
Students haven’t been in class since COVID-19 forced a province-wide school shutdown back in March.
SCDSB superintendent Dawn Stephens, who was at a few schools today to see how things were going, said she was pleased with the initial launch.
“We had about one-third of our students attend classes today with the way the staggered start worked. In the high schools, it was great for our Grade 9 students to have the school all to themselves,” said Stephens.
A survey sent out by the board in early August concluded that 15 percent of students were going to learn remotely this fall.
Stephens said the schools she visited this morning “had no issues with people wearing masks,” and that the staff she spoke to were very happy with the beginning of the school year.
Elizabeth Dewey, a teacher at Barrie North Collegiate, said she found the first day “very weird,” with some pros and cons. But she noted students seemed happy to be back.
“I teach an ESL class and I had one student, all day,” said Dewey. “She is my only Grade 9 student in that class, so it was a really different experience for both of us. But from what I saw in the hallways, students seemed really happy to be back.”
Last week, Dewey checked the list for two of her classes and they were at 32 and 24 students. Dewey looked again today and saw that many parents had withdrawn their kids and those classes are now down to 22 and 12 pupils, respectively.
“I have colleagues who have over 20 students in their classroom and they’ve spaced them out the best they can. Obviously with 20 kids, you’re not getting a metre between them,” said Dewey. “There was so much information to read and go through, it will take a while to get used to. Everything you would normally do, you’re now second guessing yourself.”
There are still some concerns for Dewey as she said the board doesn't have enough disinfectant wipes to put in every classroom at the moment due to a provincial back order; there were none at Barrie North that she saw today.
“We have spritzer bottles for disinfectant but our school only had 24, so there is not one in every classroom at the moment,” said Dewey. “We’re trying to reinvent the wheel on the run and it is anxiety-provoking a little bit.”
On Wednesday, students with surnames starting with H-O will join their fellow students with the surnames A-G in attending elementary schools in the public school board. In the region’s high schools, Grade 10 students will begin their lessons tomorrow as well.
The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board doesn’t begin classes until Thursday and will also follow a staggered start.
