Some parents were furious to find out that by Monday, March 15th, some of their kids would be put into a new classroom with a new teacher. They didn’t understand why the Trillium Lakelands District School Board would do this, this far into the school year.
“We’ve had waitlists we’ve been addressing as best we can throughout the year where parents have requested their child move from on-line to in-school and vice versa. At the beginning of the school year families chose in-school or at-home learning in August. In October there was a major reorganization of classes for those who requested making a move. Since then, we’ve put students on waitlists when there has been a request for a change. While we’ve addressed the waitlist in smaller ways throughout the year it needed to be addressed, hence the reorganization of classes taking place now,” said Catherine Shedden, District Manager of Corporate Communications.
When it comes to class sizes, she added that this restructuring has resulted in one additional class at a physical school. It also has resulted in fewer classes at the Learn@Home Elementary School. She says adjustments to class sizes are made to meet Ministry of Education guidelines and collective agreement language.
“Fewer Learn@Home classes has meant less Learn@Home teachers. Some long-term occasional teachers have reverted back to our supply list. We are confident these teachers will have ample teaching opportunities as we are short of supply teachers many days,” said Shedden when asked if the restructuring was taking place due to layoffs.
The school board made parents aware of the restructuring on Wednesday, March 10th.