Tuesday marked the first snow day of the new school year and because of COVID-19, students aren’t free to relax as they once were.
“Our students will continue working but doing their assignments from home,” Communications Manager for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) Pauline Stevenson says.
On snow days, schools with SMCDSB and the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) will be closed to students, but not to teachers.
“Our teachers are prepared to post material in their virtual classroom,” explains TLDSB’s Superintendant of Learning Jennifer Johnston. “It could be a Google meeting – like a live lesson – or they could just post classroom materials.” She adds that teachers will be at school and available to students virtually if they need help.
She says that this is new and introduced because of COVID-19. “In the past, we would have collapsed classes,” she explains. “But now due to covid protocols and cohorting requirements we made the decision to close schools to students and offer remote learning (on snow days).”
Stevenson says that schools got in touch with students and parents before the school year to go over the plans and work through any problems. “We’re working through those issues on a case by case basis,” she says.