A Superintendent of Education with the Avon Maitland District School Board says, despite the recent announcement from Education Minister Stephen Lecce that classes will be face to face starting in September, school boards will still be required to offer remote learning.
Jane Morris says she believes the intention of the Minister's announcement was to remind families that they students are going to be back to school in September and the overwhelming majority of them will be back face to face.
“As of our registration at the end of the school year, it was looking like we had about 95 secondary students and a similar number of elementary students registered for fully remote learning," said Morris. "And the rest of the 15,000 students in Avon-Maitland are coming back face to face.”
“We're becoming, unfortunately, quite proficient in this pivot from online to face to face, so our educators are well-equipped now and our students and families are supported with technology and I think everybody's become a little more accustomed to what this would look like if we had to go in that direction again.”
Morris says she believes the majority of the families that have chosen remote learning are families that have become comfortable with online learning.