During today’s press conference, the provincial government announced that schools will remain closed until at least the end of April.
Teachers will not return until May 1st and students will remain at home until May 4th.
This measure has been taken to ensure the safety of teachers, staff, students and their families.
Education minister, Stephen Lecce, announced the second phase of Learn at Home program.
He outlines how much time students should be spending learning as follows
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Kindergarten-Grade 3: five hours of work per student/week (focus on literacy and math)
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Grades 4-6: five hours of work per student/week (focus on literacy, math, science and social studies)
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Grades 7-8: 10 hours of work per student/week (focus on math, literacy, science and social studies)
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Grades 9-12: three hours of work per course per week for semestered students; 1.5 hours of work per course per week for non-semestered students (focus on achieving credits/completion/graduation)
Locally, President of the Halton Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Bargaining Unit, Cindy Gage, gives us her initial reaction to the announcement.
President of ETFO Halton, Kathy Proctor has also shared her thoughts.
Proctor says she appreciates Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s comments that they are going to try to keep all employees working at this time and for acknowledging the importance of all school staff.
The Ministry of Education has promised that students will not have their graduation compromised and that they will work with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to make sure there are no barriers to accessing postsecondary education.
Daycares that have not been reopened to help frontline workers will remain closed for the next two weeks.
The steps the provincial government are taking to help postsecondary students which can be found in detail here.
