Ontario school boards are wasting little time reverting to a normal semester pattern, with some resuming a regular school schedule starting next week.
Starting Monday, both the Halton District School Board and the Niagara District School Board will revert to a traditional semester model for high school students, which means they will take four courses a day.
They are the first meetings to ditch the modified semester adopted this academic year, resulting in teens taking two courses a day every other week. Other boards have indicated that they also intend to return to a normal semester.
“We have been speaking with students since the beginning of school in September 2021 to ensure their learning and well-being are supported during COVID,” said Kim Sweeney, spokesperson for the Niagara board.
“Feedback from students is that they prefer a regular semester model of four periods per day where they are taking the same classes continuously, without interruptions. Scheduling classes on alternate weeks meant that students didn’t have the benefit of taking advantage of their learning from week to week. “
Last week, the province gave the green light to school boards to return to a normal semester, as long as the local health doctor is not concerned about COVID infection rates. Going back to a regular schedule is something that many boards have been pushing for in light of growing fears that students and teachers will feel stressed and exhausted.
In September, most Ontario school boards adopted the modified semester model to help slow the spread of COVID by limiting contact between groups of students. That means students take four courses per semester, with a daily schedule of two classes for one week, and then switch to the other two courses the following week. And classes that normally lasted around 75 minutes now last two and a half hours.
The Toronto District School Board says it is consulting Toronto Public Health on next steps regarding semesters. Meanwhile, the city’s Catholic board aims to return to a regular schedule in February.
Reintroducing four periods a day will provide “the opportunity for a more academically focused approach and a better in-person learning experience,” said Brendan Browne, School Board Director for the Toronto Catholic District.
“We also recognize how critical a return to normalcy will be to a student’s mental health.”
Patrick Daly, director of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, said making the change at the typical start of the second semester in February seems more like a natural transition, while also giving boards an opportunity to work out the details with their units. local public health. .
“I know the boards that I’ve spoken to, that’s what they’re looking at, to give staff time,” he said. “I am not aware of any who have decided to move immediately” due to a combination of logistics and conversations with public health.
“Anyway you look at it, it’s very good news,” Daly also said, adding that the Catholic boards had been defending him.
“As much as possible, we would like to bring as much normalcy as possible into the lives of the youth and staff … to give students the hope of a normal school year, which they are used to.”
Sharlene Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Ottawa Catholic School Board, said she is awaiting permission from the local public health unit to continue with a normal four-course semester in February.
He is currently using a “semester” approach and cannot change sooner “because our students have already completed two courses and are now starting the next” semester, he said.
“We have high hopes of going back to a four-year semester … we believe it will happen, and we are hopeful that it will.”
Reference-www.thestar.com