The Bluewater District School Board says winter storm school closure decisions will be impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic this year. School bus cancellations are the decision of the bus companies, while school closures are the decision of the principal and Bluewater District School Board.
The board has joined other local board's in asking students who cannot get to school, to log into their online classroom learning environment at the start of the day for instructions from their teacher. students can use Brightspace or Office365.
The board will try to keep elementary schools open as much as possible, but cannot mix the current student cohorts, so there may not always be enough staff on hand. If the school is closed, all students should shift to online learning.
Due to the amount of material delivered in one day under the current secondary model, when buses are cancelled, secondary schools will be closed to students except for those in self-contained special education classrooms. Learning will shift to online.
A release from the board says, "teachers will have posted work for students to complete and, if possible, will be available to connect with students synchronously. Students who do not have access to the appropriate technology are asked to follow up with their teacher when they return to school. Teachers are working to ensure all students have the information required to access the online platform."
Free apps for Microsoft Teams and Brightspace are available for mobile phones, which students may wish to use for this purpose.