Parents and guardians have been tasked with providing feedback on return to school preferences to the Near North District School Board.
Stakeholders received an email with a link to the NNDSB-administered survey earlier this week following the release of the Ministry of Education's approach to reopening, available on the Ontario.ca website.
The email reads: "In order to plan for all scenarios and ensure that appropriate resources and supports, including transportation, are in place, we are requesting that you please complete a survey for each child in your family attending an NNDSB school."
Except, missing from that correspondence is the due date for the survey to be returned.
A parent with children enrolled in the NNDSB who contacted BayToday after reading over the survey wondered, "How long can I wait to decide?"
A new poll by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies suggests many Canadian parents are on the fence about whether to send their kids to school if and when classrooms are reopened.
A deadline of August 4 had been given by the Ministry of Education for boards across the province to have reopening plans in place, although it now seems likely Education Minister Stephen Lecce will make a decision about a September return ahead of that date.
The British Columbia government is set to announce its updated plan for a safe return for public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey lists three choices for students with respect to the reopening of schools in September 2020:
- Regular school day routine with enhanced public health protocols
- Modified school day routine based on smaller class sizes, cohorting and alternative day or week
- At-home learning with ongoing enhanced remote delivery
The same parent again wonders what the "enhanced public health protocols," include and is dismayed a breakdown has not been provided so parents and guardians can make informed decisions.
"I want to know if it includes masks. How about social distancing, hand sanitizer, hand washing? How can we decide if we don't know?"
This is obviously new territory for all involved but if students are to return in September as scheduled, a decision is looming.
Meanwhile, the Nipissing–Parry Sound Catholic District School Board has informed parents and guardians a survey will be sent out — sometime in August after a decision is made on reopening in September by the Ministry of Education.
The NNDSB survey also asks for feedback on "concerns or barriers" to students participating in a modified school day routine, such as alternating days or weeks.
Parents are asked to express any concerns about their child(ren) distance learning from home, especially pertaining to access to a device, reliable internet access, and technical support for the student to access online learning.
While the survey notes the Ministry of Education is, "Encouraging active forms of travel or private transportation by parents and caregivers, where possible, to ease pressure on transportation demand," it asks whether students will be using the school bus if approved to do so.
According to the accompanying email, "The information collected through this survey is vital as once an option is selected for your child(ren), parents/guardians may not be able to alter this choice for a lengthy period of time."
This week, Steven Del Duca, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, released a fully-costed plan to get Ontario students back into classrooms safely and in classrooms no larger than 15 students.
"Students and their parents in North Bay have been waiting for far too long to hear what will happen in September," said Del Duca.
