Mark’s last day of school was on March 13, 2020.
He should have started Grade 3 this week. Instead, I’m keeping him busy with the latest download, Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
Clearly, something went wrong along the way…
Who says what in Canada’s decentralized education system?
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t get to say “hey, teachers, leave those kids alone!” or “wake me up when September ends.”
In fact, education falls within provincial jurisdiction. So Quebec sent kids back to school last week but in Ontario, we’re still waiting for a date. Or a plan, actually.
To further complicate matters, educational programs are administered by several district school boards under the provincial or territorial ministry of education. There are 76 public school boards in Ontario. In Ottawa, we deal with four of them—the Ottawa Catholic School Board, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est, the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (that’s ours).
Totally lost? Don’t worry—most of the time, so are we.
The point is, the decision-making process is usually long and complicated. It involves many stakeholders and parents get a shitload of emails.
The three back-to-school scenarios
Three possible scenarios for Ontario were released late June:
- remote learning
- a full return to in-class learning with public-health measures
- a hybrid-learning model (two days of school a week)
So basically, all possible scenarios. Ah, ah, that helps.
According to local media reports, private schools’ phone has been ringing off the hook all summer long. Of course, they’re also affected by lockdowns, but smaller classes and some kind of engaging remote learning plan B was enough to make them particularly attractive as Ontario was scrambling around trying to come up with a plan.
Since I don’t have $20,000 a year to spare, we spent the summer waiting for that plan.
Dozens of emails later, it’s still hazy and we don’t have a back-to-school date yet.
“Make a decision!” “No, YOU make a decision!”
Over the summer, parents were asked to decide whether their child will attend school in person or via remote learning. Problem was, there wasn’t much info about either of the two options—typical “chicken or egg dilemma,” the board needed numbers to come up with a plan and parents wanted clear structured plans before making a decision.
The deadline was pushed back several times, each email sounding increasingly desperate.
Eventually, “73% of elementary and 78% of secondary respondents opted for in-person learning.”
School start date pushed back
We read it on CBC first—school start date was pushed back to September 8 as planners needed more time to… ahem, plan.
The school board only emailed us a couple of days later: “There will be a change to the start of the school year; students will now start school between September 8th and September 18th. This will ensure proper planning and safety is in place. We will share a detailed plan of the progressive start dates at the beginning of next week.”
We’re still waiting for a date—sometimes in 2020, hopefully.
Enough already, reopen classrooms!
I do want Mark to attend school in person. I strongly believe kids need a classroom structure to learn academic and social skills, as well as rules, team work, empathy, differences, etc.
Our spring “remote learning” experience was a massive failure. He only had a thirty-minute weekly “class activity” online and needed help for all assignments since surprisingly, a seven-year-old kid doesn’t have the motivation and the ability to use a laptop and study independently. Instructions were unclear or unrealistic—his French teacher’s only assignment was the dreaded “write your diary.” I actually ended up typing it myself for a week before giving up completely. Why on earth would you ask kids to write (in their second language!) about their unexciting day during the lockdown? “Every day is the same,” Mark complained a thousand of times…
Remote learning may work for older students or younger kids if a parent decides to be a full-time teacher. This is not an option for us. I love spending an hour explaining something to Mark but I lack time and stamina for consistent, repetitive practice—not to mention we have to work.
And this is the hard truth—for most families, return to school is a false choice.
But wait… is it a smart move?
Much like millions of parents over the world, I’m worried and conflicted.
It feels like nothing changed since March 2020. Sure, new cases are down across Canada and we avoided the worst-case scenario so far, but we still don’t know how to eradicate or cure COVID-19. Virus impact on children is unclear and we don’t understand how they affect transmission. Getting tested isn’t as easy as it should and accuracy is controverted.
Mentally, it’s a bit of a stretch to go from taped-off play structures and strict social distancing to “eh, let’s keep hundreds of kids indoors for hours!” I can list the people we’ve had close contact with since March—once Mark goes back to school, I’m losing control.
I’m worried about the psychological effects of COVID-19 restrictions and measures. It’s not natural for kids (and adults!) to wear masks and follow strict social distancing procedures.
I’m worried because teachers are worried—they know schools better than us and I trust their judgment. Plus, a nervous teacher won’t do a good job.
I’m worried because our school constantly screw up emails, spelling, dates and more. They can’t even run the “milk and pizza” program properly or plan activities without the help of hundreds of volunteers. How are they going to handle COVID?
I’m worried that we’re gonna have to go into quarantine the minute a child has a runny nose.
I’m worried we’re focusing on the wrong things. Most kids have been meeting in playgrounds for weeks now, so much for social distancing. Now, can we talk about ventilation and cleaning procedures at school?
So yeah, I’m worried. But Mark has to go back to school.
What a crazy world…
How about you? How do you feel about going back to work or sending your kids back to school?
I’m kinda glad the kids are going back to school here in Quebec, but a bit worried about the second wave coming up (hope not) after a month or two… but at least it’s starting to feel “normal” again, whatever normal is in these times. I think the kids need to be around other kids, for their mental health and the mental health of their parents. Let’s wait and see!
I definitely see this mental health need for Mark. The first couple of months went by fast for him, but he’s been lethargic ever since (except when we were in France, that’s when I noticed the difference!).
I have no idea how to handle the situation. But thee are already cases in Québec where the schools has to close because someone on the staff tested positive and all teachers had to go on quarantaine.
I guess it will depend on whether tests can be trusted or not. I’m okay with getting tested if a case is suspected at school but I’m not going to be happy if we have to isolate for 14 days every time someone sneezes.
Québec didn’t handle well the pandemic. And if we had followed what health professionnals recommanded, full quarantaine until september, it would have been better. Even if I agree that it would have been psychologicallly difficult.
I respectfully disagree! I mean, it could have worked if the goal was to eradicate COVID from Canada. But let’s face it, if countries like Australia and NZ couldn’t, despite an ideal geographic location to isolate from the rest of the world, there’s no way Canada can. You know it better than me, the border isn’t fully closed for instance.
At this stage, I’m on team “let’s learn how to live with it”. Strict restrictions are more damaging on society now than the virus. Which doesn’t mean I’m a crazy COVID denier, BTW. But kids need school, people need to work, etc.
I agree with that. It’s just that since deconfinement, too many people have stopped being careful, which risks to lead to a second confinement. Current rules should be reinforced or at least enforced. Wearing a mask in public buildings should be mandatory everywhere for example (except where it’s impractical or penalizing like in schools).
Curiously I find that there are more people wearing masks in the US than in Alberta.
From what I saw in France and in Ontario, people do wear their mask indoors (stores, public transportation, etc.). In France, I noticed many people who had to wear the mask for hours at the time (typically, bakery employees) didn’t wear it properly. I can only imagine it’s because they wear just sick of it and I can understand. And this is exactly why I think masks shouldn’t be mandatory in the street (cf. France). The longer you must wear a mask, the more careless you get. Also, your own mask isn’t exactly clean after a few hours… so I’d rather see the mask rules enforced when it’s truly needed (at work or in the bus, for instance) and no rule when people are outdoors.
Les filles ont commencé aujourd’hui et les profs semblent enthousiastes. Je les plains de bosser dans ces conditions mais je suis contente et reconnaissance de voir qu’elles – ce sont en majorité des femmes dans notre école – ont réussi à faire de la rentrée une belle journée. Les filles étaient ravies, les masques portés par les professeurs ne les ont pas gênées. C’est une réussite, malgré les conditions particulières.
It’s a relief to hear positive feedback (and also, I trust your judgement!). I hope they will have a great schoolyear, they deserve it 🙂
Wow, this sounds like a mess. Switzerland is also a federal state and each ‘canton’ decides when and how school starts, but schools in the whole country reopened on the normal date. Kids aged 12 years old up have to wear a mask (well, I guess in fact it depends on the grade, not the actual age). In primary schools, nobody have to wear face masks, not even the teachers. They just wash their hands a few times a day, at the beginning of the first lesson, then after recess, something like that.
I’m not afraid for my kids (I’m the optimistic kind, I believe that kids don’t catch covid too easily), but I avoid standing too close to other parents whenever I pick them up at school (most of them don’t give a shit, they chat and hug just like “before”). I wouldn’t like to catch the virus and being responsible for contaminating other people – that’s my biggest concern. Just like you, I believe that kids need this socialisation, remote learning is not an option for them. And as you say, they’ve been meeting in playgrounds, at the swimming pool, etc. all summer, so…
I’m glad things are going well over there and it makes me optimistic as well. I mean, it’s a pandemic, so experiences around the world are teaching us all something!
Canadians take social distancing VERY seriously in Ottawa. Like, they change sidewalk. But on the other hand, I suspect there’s a bit of a biais, friends and relatives meet and party (“I know them, they’re not sick!”) while strangers are feared. I get the rational but clearly, clusters and transmission do happen with people you “know”, like co-workers or friends. I feel I have less chance to catch COVID queuing with strangers than in a large family meeting.
This is tough and an absolute shitshow!
My partner is immunocompromised so we are taking measures to keep him safe. I requested to stay home from work (I would rather not be in a tight office with 7 of my co workers) , and my son is doing remote learning.
Totally makes sense and yes, it’s frustrating! We’re lucky that working from home is a non-issue for us (however, getting work is a problem…). As for Mark, we can’t justify keeping him home but I’m not 100% confortable with going back to school. It’s a hard decision to make, it looks like there’s no right or wrong move, we’re all doing the best we can.
Good luck! Thinking of all the parents with school age kids.
Thank you! I’m also thinking of all workers who have to be on site and can’t work from home :-/