Ontario parents concerned about school reopening plans are weighing their options as the first day of classes draws nearer, with some opting to enrol their children in remote learning while others explore alternatives like "learning pods."
These parents and others in the education sector are also raising concerns that reopening plans and the ability of only some families to seek out other options will create further inequities between students across the province. This comes as several school boards start to release the results of student registration for the fall.
In the Durham District School Board, around 13,635 students (10,749 elementary and 2,886 secondary) or around 19 per cent of approximately 70,000 students are opting for remote learning. Within the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, nearly 27 per cent of elementary students and 21.5 per cent of secondary students are choosing to learn remotely. At the York Region District School Board, 67 of elementary and 80 per cent of secondary families opted for in-person learning while 33 per cent of elementary and 20 per cent of secondary are choosing online learning. And preliminary data from the Waterloo Region District School Board indicated that 83 per cent of elementary and 89 per cent of secondary students plan to attend school in person in the fall.
In recent weeks, several groups promoting "learning pods" have formed on Facebook. One called Learning Pods - Canada is described as a group for "parents and teachers to network and mobilize to ensure our children have a bright year of learning and socializing ahead," noting that for some learning pods are "the game plan, for others, it's a backup plan."
Beyhan Farhadi, a TDSB English teacher for grades 9 to 11 who is on leave this fall, described the different types of "learning pods" that are cropping up across the province. One would involve a group of parents who remove their children from school, hire a tutor or a certified teacher and engage in homeschooling. The other would be where children enrolled in remote learning form smaller groups and parents rotate supervision of the children. Farhadi said that from what she's seen in social media groups, there seems to be more interest in the first type of setup.
Farhadi said while some school survey results show most parents are sending their children back to school, it’s unlikely to be a "free choice" in some cases, meaning the parents are working and can't be home with their kids.
This shows that there's a "layer of inequality," she said, pointing to the fact that some families have the ability to explore alternatives to school, while others don't.
"It’s not a judgment, I’m likely keeping my kids at home to do remote learning," she said of her two young children. "I could theoretically form a pod with my neighbours if they’re doing the same thing ... it’s still inequitable in any case, the fact that our family can do that."
She pointed to <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/07/30/coronavirus-disproportionately-affects-racialized-and-low-income-residents-tph-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Toronto data</a> showing that COVID-19 disproportionately affects racialized communities and parts of the city where people's jobs require them to leave their homes.
"Those parents are going to be sending their children back to schools," she said. "You can see we already have a lot of income inequality that’s growing and this is just going to create deeper divisions."
"I ... don’t issue judgment, my judgment lies with the systems that create these conditions," she said.
NDP education critic Marit Stiles said it comes down to people not feeling confident in the government's plans.
The Doug Ford government <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/07/30/coronavirus-disproportionately-affects-racialized-and-low-income-residents-tph-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced on July 30</a> that as part of the province's plan, all elementary students across Ontario would be able to return to the classroom five-days-a-week, but with regular class sizes.
High schools in certain "higher risk" regions would reopen under an "adapted model" of in-person and remote learning with cohorts of 15 students. Meanwhile, high schools in "non-designated school boards," such as Algoma, Keewatin-Patricia, Near North and Sudbury, would see a full return to school.
The government also announced $309 million at the time to help with the reopening of schools, including $30 million for boards to hire additional teachers. But parents, educators and other stakeholders called for the government to provide more funding to enable boards to lower class sizes. On Aug. 13, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced school boards could tap into their reserves to hire more educators and lease non-traditional spaces in an effort to reduce class sizes — something that was <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/08/14/school-board-reps-say-theyre-frustrated-with-governments-announcement-on-unlocking-reserve-funds/">heavily criticized</a> by school board officials, unions and opposition parties.
"It’s really unfortunate that we’re in a situation where very large numbers of parents in a lot of parts of this province are feeling like they have to make a decision for their children that involves not returning to school," Stiles said. "I don’t blame any parent for making that decision."
She also drew a correlation between communities most affected by COVID-19 and their options for school this fall.
"We know that COVID will continue to impact some communities more than others, it’s those families who have no choices that I’m really mostly concerned about right now," she said. "It’s the families who have to go back to work, who have no choices, who can’t figure out a way to participate in a pod."
The government pointed to a policy memorandum on home-schooling, but didn't respond to questions about concerns over inequities between students or parents' concerns about safety protocols. Premier Ford said during a press conference on Tuesday: "I understand parents are nervous," but that the government is "pulling out all the stops."
"And the parents I talked to, it's not so much about the plan ... they're nervous about COVID, I'm nervous about COVID," Ford said.
Shamila Rizvi, a mother of two young children, agreed that the school reopening plans this fall will "widen the gap between the haves and have-nots."
"I feel that is a really terrible thing that is happening," said Rizvi, whose two daughters were previously attending a Montessori school. "But unfortunately because of the current policies what is going to happen is … there will be more disparity and this will affect the public school system, unfortunately."
Her six-year-old was set to start Grade 1 with the Peel District School Board this fall, but Rizvi had a change of heart because of concerns over class sizes and distancing in the classroom along with school boards' reliance on families doing self-assessments.
Calling it "unchartered territory," Rizvi, who is currently working remotely, said she's been exploring several options including hiring a certified teacher to home-school her children, hiring a tutor or teacher to support her daughters with remote learning through the PDSB or sending her children to a certified teacher's home to join a learning pod of fewer than five students. She said social interaction for her daughters is likely why she would lean toward the last option. The cost for joining a learning pod like this could be anywhere from $700 to $1,000 per child for a month, she said.
"I just feel like it’s good for their development," Rizvi said. "They should have some exposure to other kids."
Some business owners are even looking to rent out spaces for learning pods.
Jennifer Fleischer, owner of Active Kids Zone in North York, said she's looking to rent out a few of their party rooms to a tutoring company that is setting up multiple learning pods.
"So families that have two or three kids that want to do learning pods, I thought that this was an ideal space because they could bring them to one place and have three classrooms," she said. While Fleischer has fielded some inquiries, she said companies are trying to gauge interest.
"I think a lot of people are on the fence about what to do because they’re waiting to see ... if (school boards) are going to make changes that are going to make parents happy," she said.
Business has been slower because of COVID-19 with fewer birthday parties and no lunch or after-school school programs scheduled for this fall, said Fleischer, adding that while the income from renting out spaces for learning pods won't make up for her expenses, "it's going to help."
Another parent in York Region who asked to remain anonymous because she works for the provincial government said she has enrolled her five-year-old who is entering senior kindergarten for remote learning.
"For his age group what they’ve provided, I just don’t feel comfortable and that really comes down to class sizes and physical distancing," she said.
"I don’t think that a class size of 30 kids would be able to physically distance when their class is already pretty full," she said, although noting that she understands the position the government is in.
"There’s only so much money, and how quickly would you be able to implement this by September anyways?" she said.
While her son is "great at wearing a mask" right now, she's unsure whether that practice could change once the novelty of it wears off. Plus, how children don and doff their masks is another consideration.
"I just don’t know if it’s reasonable to expect such a young child to be able to go into that environment and to maintain all the expectations that we expect adults to do and they can’t even keep it up consistently," she said.
For her to feel comfortable sending her son to school, she would want to see "a significant reduction in class sizes" to about 10 to 15 students and get a better sense of community transmission rates this fall.
Because there are still unknowns about the coronavirus and transmission with children, she said "I do worry about what if he catches something how that's going to affect the family and also how that’s going to affect him in the long run."
Meanwhile, unions blasted the government's reopening plans, with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) saying in a statement that it is "concerned about learning pods and distance learning options."
"We believe that it will increase inequities. There are many groups in our society who do not have the means to participate in these options, leaving them with limited options," the union said.
Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said the government's "incoherent school reopening scheme is forcing parents to make incredibly difficult choices."
"Families want their children to be back in classrooms as soon as possible, but many of them have no confidence that schools will be safe," Stuart said, noting that some families can't afford to choose remote learning, meaning "they will be forced to send their children into situations with many unknowns."
"We have previously raised concerns directly with the minister of education about the danger of undermining faith in the safety of Ontario’s publicly funded schools," she continued, adding that she hopes the government will listen to Ontario families.
Photo credit: Richard Lautens/Toronto Star

Growing concerns about inequities as some parents nervous about school reopening plans explore alternatives

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