Students to start learning from home as schools remain closed until May

Jesse Bonello - Staff Writer

On March 31 the Ontario government announced that schools and child care centres will remain closed to protect the health and safety of students and staff.
In a media release the Government of Ontario shared, “Public schools will remain closed to teachers until Friday, May 1, 2020, and to students until Monday, May 4, 2020. As these dates come closer, this decision will be re-evaluated based on public health advice. The closure may be extended if necessary to protect the health and safety of students, families and staff. Private schools, licensed child care centres and EarlyON programs will also remain closed until April 13, according to the Declaration of Emergency, which only allows closures to be extended for one 14-day period at a time. Select centres designated to support frontline health care workers and first responders will remain open.”
“To ensure continuity of learning, the government is launching the second phase of Learn at Home. Developed in conjunction with education partners, the government is establishing clarity for parents, enhancing education supports, and creating opportunities for teachers and educators to connect with students… As previously announced, no student will have their graduation compromised by COVID-19 and the Ministry of Education continues to collaborate with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to ensure that there will be no barriers to accessing postsecondary education,” the release stated.
Starting April 6, the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board (KPDSB) and The Northwest Catholic District School Board (TNCDSB) will begin the launch of Distance Learning throughout the region, which will be available for all students from kindergarten to grade 12.
“For students in Grades K - 3, the focus will be on literacy and numeracy instruction at this time. For students in Grades 4 – 8, the focus will be on literacy, numeracy, Science and Social Studies instruction. Students in Grades K - 6 will be provided with approximately five hours of work per week, and teachers will work with their students and share information with parents/guardians on the delivery of these materials. Students in Grades 7 and 8 will be provided with approximately ten hours of work per student per week, and teachers will work with their students and share information with parents/guardians on the delivery of these materials,” the KPDSB shared in a letter to families on April 1.
“For secondary students (Grades 9 - 12), students will continue with their Semester Two timetabled courses, making sure that senior students who are on track to graduate are not held back by any graduation requirements that cannot be fulfilled at this time (i.e. community hours). Students in Grades 9 - 12 will be assigned an average of 3 hours of work per course per week, and teachers will work with their students and share information with parents/guardians on the delivery of these materials,” the letter stated.
“We realize that not all families have access to the same level of technology and are working as quickly as we can to provide supports to students and families. That support may include providing you with technology devices such as Chromebooks to allow access to online learning platforms that will/are being shared by your classroom teachers. We understand that some families do not have the access needed to engage in an online learning platform and we will work with you to provide other means of learning so that your children can engage in the curriculum… We are asking everyone to be patient during these challenging times. It is certainly our hope that we are back in our schools as soon as it is safe to do so,” the TNCDSB shared in a letter to families on April 3.
As part of supporting students and ensuring they can access their Distance Learning, the KPDSB announced on April 2 that internet connections at all their schools and buildings will be available to the public.
“The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is here to support our students, staff, families and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the ways we are doing this is by making the internet connections at our schools and buildings available to anyone who may need it.  To access the connections, all that is required is to select the kp-public option from the list of available wifi connections and agree to the terms of use. Please note - Anyone accessing the wifi connections at our schools will have to do so from outside the buildings and follow all government direction around limiting the spread of COVID-19, including:
•    Staying home whenever possible
•    Practicing social distancing at all times
•    Self-isolating in your home if you have travelled recently, are feeling unwell, or think you may have come into contact with someone who may have COVID-19,” the KPDSB announced.
The Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) announced on April 1 that they’re currently exploring options to continue delivering education to students while facilities remain closed.
“NNEC is currently exploring options with the Ministry of Education to allow DFC (Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, PFFNHS (Pelican Falls First Nations High School, and WAHSA (Wahsa Distance Education Centre) to continue to offer education programming while our facilities are closed. At this time we do not know what the program delivery will look like, but we are exploring options including on-line learning. As soon as more information is made available it will be shared with our students, staff, parents and guardians, partners, and communities,” NNEC announced in a memo.
In a message to students and families on the PFFNHS Facebook page on April 1, Principal Darrin Head shared, “Over the next few days, PFFNHS teachers will be attempting to contact all of our students by telephone to see how you are doing, to find out if you have your Chromebook at home with you, and if you have internet access at home. This is all in preparation for our teacher-led continuous learning.”
In a video on Sioux North High School’s Facebook page Vice Principal Jennifer McMaster said teachers are reaching out to students regarding education moving forward. She also said they’ll have special content in the coming weeks for grade eights transitioning
to grade nine.
“For the time being please check your K12 account. Your teachers are reaching out to you through there, and they’ve been trying to phone. If you haven’t had communication from someone from Sioux North we’re probably struggling with your contact information, so if you can shoot me a message here on Facebook that would be helpful. Again, check that K12 email account because your teachers are reaching out about what learning’s going to look like in your classrooms moving forward,” said McMaster.
“Our grade eights transition to grade nine, we’ll have some special messages for you in the coming weeks, including some transition videos and some ways you can start to do your course selection. Stay tuned, stay connected, make sure you like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and I hope you’re finding ways to stay healthy,” she continued.
As students start the second phase of Learn at Home, Connected North said students will still be able to access online sessions and virtual field trips that have been booked throughout April.
“Any of the Connected North at Home, so it’s connectednorth.org/athome, resources can be accessed at any time. We have videos accessible that were sessions that we already had that people can access if you go to videos.connectednorth.org, and that’s the sessions that we already had over the last week and a half. The new sessions, that are live sessions, anybody can access from our webpage. We’re also working on setting up a resource page of lesson plans and resources that all of our providers offer on their own website and we’ll be linking them on our website, so teachers, students, and parents can access all of the resources. Students can also send emails to us that we will forward to our providers, answering any questions that they have following any of the sessions that they participate in,” said Katie Burch, Education Coordinator for Connected North.
“We are booking between four and six virtual field trips a day. The whole month of April is all completely booked so we’ve got providers offering sessions, and we’re now booking into the first week of May,” she said.
Burch said Connected North has been receiving great feedback from participating families. She said the sessions have all featured Sioux Lookout participation.
“We’ve had lots of really good feedback. I would say every single session we have at least five Sioux Lookout participants. Participants are homes, not necessarily individuals, so for Zumba we have a family from six (years old) to 86 participate in the Zumba lessons… We’ve had tons of kids from Sacred Heart (School) and Sioux Mountain (Public School) tuning in to participate in sessions. We have anywhere between 45 and 210 participants in all of our sessions. We have one little guy who’s been in every single session since we’ve started, and we have four to five sessions per day,” said Burch.
“We’re also doing family events that we’re doing in the evening, which is when Zumba is, so it’s around dinner-time. We also have a session coming up April 8 (today) with a Star Wars expert. It’s a gentleman named Andy Raab and he’s based out of New York, I believe, and he actually competes in Star Wars trivia around the world. He’ll be connecting with us for a Star Wars family trivia Q and A session on April 8 at 7 p.m. Eastern. I’m excited because I know that there’s Star Wars lovers in Sioux Lookout… It’s nice to offer things for families out of the school day to,” she explained.
To access new sessions, or recordings of previous sessions, visit www.connectednorth.org/athome.