The Director of Education for the Bluewater District School Board has a message for parents: stay calm. It was on Thursday, January 7th, that the province announced in school learning for elementary students has been delayed until January 25th. They were to go back Monday. Lori Wilder acknowledges the short notice presents a challenge. She says any problems students are having are best handled first at the school level.
"We do ask for parents to contact their teacher directly for support and then the principal and then the area superintendent if they need to go that way so we know a lot of these issues or challenges are best handled directly at the school level," says Wilder. She says the Board is doing everything it can to support families but the situation requires sacrifice. "I want them to know we'll get through this together. We are so fortunate to live here in Grey and Bruce Counties because our rates have been fairly low so we probably would have been OK to go back to school but I just know that we need to provincially come together to support what they need to do to minimize the cases."
Wilder says the Bluewater Board sent out a letter before Christmas informing parents to be prepared for sudden changes. She again stresses all supports possible will be provided to families, including issues with the technology required for at home learning.