Secondary students with the public board are starting their second quadmester today, and were informed this week that by February they will have the option of attending class in-person or online through a hybrid model.
Hanne Nielsen and Dawn Stephens, superintendents of education with the Simcoe County District School Board, gave a verbal report to trustees on Wednesday night during their program standing committee meeting, outlining the switch to a hybrid model for secondary students, citing issues with sustainability for the Learn@Home program.
“If we were to try to maintain this model, we would have to re-timetable all of our schools and cancel approximately 100 sections,” said Stephens. “We need to look at what would provide the most opportunities for all of our learners.”
“The semester, to date, has required all of us to adapt,” said Nielsen.
About 2,700 secondary students were enrolled in the Learn@Home program.
“We have recently informed the secondary system that all teachers will use the D2L (Desire2Learn) platform for consistency in the system... moving to a blended model to support students who choose to learn at home and/or choose to learn in-person,” said Stephens.
Cameras have been purchased for teachers to use for live-steaming lessons.
“There may be some courses in which this will not work, but for most of our students they can have a flexible timetable,” said Stephens. “This will very much support parents and students as they determine their family’s needs. In addition, students will have the flexibility to move in and out of in-person learning seamlessly.”
Trustee and chairperson Jodi Lloyd said she knows some parents will not like the new approach, but called the approach “prudent.”
“Many of the boards that have had significant challenges have taken a more relaxed approach to this and have tried to allow parents to switch back and forth and have, as such, got themselves into some significant challenges because there is a management component of this for staffing, course selections and course timetabling,” said Lloyd. “There has to be some control over that.”
Lloyd referenced the initial approach the school board took to extend the deadline for parents to select in-person or online learning.
“Once they made that selection, they were committed to that selection,” said Lloyd. “We need to stay focused on the cohorting and minimizing disruptions of reorganizations of classrooms.”
At the public board’s elementary level, there are currently no plans to switch to a hybrid model.
Superintendent Douglas Paul provided an update on elementary plans during the meeting.
“We believe consistency within our board is the best path forward,” said Paul.
A survey will be sent out to families of elementary students to be completed between Dec. 7-11 to let the board know whether parents would like their children to stay in their current learning mode – either in-class or Learn@Home – in advance of the switch date of Feb. 17.
“Families will be able to change between learning modes only if space exists,” said Paul.
At the end of October, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board announced it would be dissolving its virtual schools and moving to a hybrid model for all students, however after public outcry deferred the switch for elementary students pending a staff report on the issue, which will be presented to trustees on Nov. 25.
Secondary students in the Catholic board will be switching to the hybrid model starting next week.
