With the rapid increase of the Omicron variant and the general spike of COVID-19 cases in Ontario, some have expressed concerns and question whether or not the province should move back into lockdown.
In an interview with Sherri-Lynne Pharand, the Director of Education for the Keewatin Patricia District School Board (KPDSB), she assured that KPDSB schools are prepared for the potential of a lockdown announcement following the winter break.
“All of the decisions [regarding school closures] are made by the local Medical Officer of Health and the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario but what I can tell you is, out an abundance of caution, we are sending computer technology home with all of our students in grades 3 through 12 and with staff,” said Pharand.
“If we need to, we would provide [computers], the first day after the holidays, to our kindergarten through to grade 2 students,” she continued.
The thought of virtual learning following the winter break may feel like déjà vu to many, it was almost two years ago that students went into the first emergency lockdown following the march break - almost two years ago that virtual learning became the pandemic norm.
Pharand added “In previous years, when all of this was new, I know that the school boards were not necessarily ready for the after [break] closures. So out an abundance of caution, we’re ready, whatever the Chief Medical Officer of Health feels is in the best interest of the health and safety of students and staff after the Christmas break.”
When asked what virtual learning may look like in the event of a closure, Pharand continued “The very first time, in March of 2020, when everything closed down and we switched to emergency virtual learning, it was more of an emergency learning minimum to keep the learning going.”
Pharand continued to explain that if students were to return to a virtual learning format, they would “be in class” for the same amount of time that they would be if it was in-person learning.
Following the first emergency closure of schools in March 2020, school boards across the country devoted large amounts of time and resources to developing a virtual learning system that would be comparable to traditional in-person learning, in an effort to bridge the learning gaps that pandemic learning had brought to light.