While details are scarce from the province on when elementary and secondary students across Simcoe County will be heading back to classrooms, some Collingwood parents are feeling the strain, while others say their kids are thriving in the remote learning model.
On Wednesday night, the provincial government announced that students wouldn’t be returning to in-class learning on Jan. 25. The announcement was made in a provincial news release emailed to media, and only outlined which school boards would be returning to class on Monday. All other boards were left out of the release, and no information was provided on their status.
“I think it’s a joke. I was incessantly checking Google, Twitter, every information channel I could on Wednesday,” said Julie Kaden, a Collingwood mom and business owner. “I was racked with anxiety as I have been every time there’s an announcement to come, and was really let down with the way the announcement was delivered and the lack of information that was provided.”
“There was a sense that it didn’t feel like it was a priority for the government to let parents know what the plan would be four days from then,” she added.
Kaden’s son attends Grade 1 and her daughter attends Grade 4, both at Cameron Street Public School. Both kids are in the French immersion program.
“I don’t speak French fluently, so trying to help our kids learn a language that I don’t understand makes it extra difficult,” she said. “There’s a toll it takes on our family in regards to mental health.”
Kaden and her husband both work full-time. As Kaden is self-employed, she said she has had to turn away opportunities and is not actively seeking work as she said she can’t manage a full client load on top of helping her kids with remote learning.
“We’ve made sacrifices financially to make this work,” she said.
Kaden is disappointed kids across Simcoe County will not be going back into the classroom on Monday.
“It’s unfortunate because we haven’t been given any information about how long this is going to continue, when the next decisions will be made, until which date they’ll be home. There’s just such a lack of information and it’s really frustrating,” she said.
The question Kaden says she’d like answered is, how are parents supposed to manage all this indefinitely?
“How do I answer those questions for my kids? This is a difficult thing for them to come to terms with too. My kids want to be in the classroom. When are we going to get an update?” she said.
Kaden said she’s also frustrated to not receive any reasoning behind the decision-making that is happening at the provincial level.
“What’s the justification for opening Grey-Bruce and not Simcoe, or parts of Simcoe? I understand Simcoe County is one of the largest counties, geographically-speaking,” she said. “I’ve heard rumours that it’s the numbers in Barrie that lead to the decision to keep Simcoe County schools closed, but could it not have been made more granular than that to say Collingwood, Penetanguishene or Orillia are safe?”
“It seems to have been a blanket decision,” she added.
Kaden says she understands that plans may change as the situation evolves, but to provide no information shows a lack of transparency from the government.
“They’re leaving parents, educators and kids out in the cold,” said Kaden.
Carrie Rys has two children who attend St. Mary’s Catholic School in Collingwood. Her daughter is in Grade 7 and her son is in Grade 5. Both kids opted for the in-class option from September to December, and have been doing remote learning since school resumed in January.
“My husband and I are really proud of how they’ve been handling it. It’s been a big learning curve for all of us,” said Rys. “It’s definitely come with frustrations.”
Rys, a local realtor, says she and her husband are both able to work from home throughout the pandemic.
“We’re all just working all over the house. I’m finding the hardest part is they’re sitting and staring at these screens all day, and when they’re done school, they can’t really go outside,” she said. “They can walk the dog, but it feels like a chore. They can’t play hockey, or go skiing or snowboarding. Hiking on the trails... is getting a bit tiresome. We struggle to break up the screen time.”
When asked if she has any questions she’d like answered by the province or the school boards, Rys says she doesn’t at this point because she knows everyone is working hard during an unprecedented situation and realistically, no one has all the answers.
“We weren’t surprised. We have been following the numbers. Our kids weren’t happy about it, but they know it’s what’s best,” said Rys. “I’m grateful we live in Collingwood, because we can manage. We need to stop expecting answers immediately.”
According to the most recent information provided on Jan. 21 by the Simcoe County District School Board on their social media, all Simcoe County schools will remain closed in response to COVID-19, and all students will continue to participate in remote learning.
Current arrangements to support students in special education classes will continue.
“It is expected that the next decision point regarding the return to in-person learning in Simcoe County will align with the provincial stay-at-home order which ends on Feb. 10,” they wrote. “We will continue to provide updates regarding the return to in-person learning as information becomes available from the Ontario government.”
All students in Simcoe County with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board will be following the same advice.
“We encourage students to continue to connect with their teacher every day and use our regular safe arrival procedures if your child will be absent,” they wrote on their social media on Thursday afternoon. “Our schools are committed to working with families who may be having difficulty accessing remote learning, including access to technology and the internet.”
The Catholic board also addressed scheduled professional activity (PA) days that are slated to take place on Feb. 1 and 2, and said there would be no instruction on those days.
