TDSB planning for full return to in-person learning in the fall
Posted March 5, 2021 6:30 am.
Last Updated March 5, 2021 11:22 am.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is gearing up for a full return to the classroom next September.
The board says the Ministry of Education has asked school boards in the province to prepare for no COVID related funding, meaning they are planning for in-person learning.
Ryan Bird, spokesperson for TDSB, says this will obviously be dependent on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic closer to September and based on the advice of public health officials.
“As a result, the TDSB is making contingency plans for the need for remote, virtual learning in addition to in-person learning should this be necessary,” says Bird. “We’ve learned a lot of lessons and I think we will be taking that into this new year.”
Bird says approximately 160,000 students in the province are currently back in class while around 80,000 continue to learn remotely.
A final decision around whether or not virtual school will be an option will reportedly be made in April to provide staff with enough time to prepare.
The TDSB has released the results of a survey last week about the safety of schools during the pandemic.
The survey found that 89 per cent of parents and 81 per cent of students felt protected from getting COVID-19 because of the precautions being taken at schools.
