TVDSB announces Sept. 14 start date, approves dip into reserve funds

The Thames Valley District School Board will hold its first day of school on Sept. 14 for the 2020-2021 year.T

توسط SALAMNEWWS در 5 شهریور 1399

The Thames Valley District School Board will hold its first day of school on Sept. 14 for the 2020-2021 year.

The new start date, which was previously set for Sept. 8, was announced during a special meeting of the TVDSB on Tuesday.

Elementary students will have a staggered start to the school year between Sept. 14 and Sept. 17, with a full return of all students on Sept. 18.

The school board, which serves more than 70,000 students in the London, Middlesex County, Elgin County and Oxford County, plans to send out schedules for the staggered starts by Friday.

Read more: Coronavirus: TVDSB announces staggered start to elementary school year

The delayed start is intended to allow for preparations for the return to school, including the need to draft new timetables for all secondary students in the school board.

Story continues below advertisement

TVDSB director of education Mark Fisher said the need for new timetables stems from a meeting with the Ontario Ministry of Education on Aug. 21.

The TVDSB had initially sought to have secondary students attend two courses per day, but Fisher told the meeting on Tuesday that the ministry requested that number be brought down to one course per day.

A scheduling example for TVDSB’s in-person learning model for secondary students.
A scheduling example for TVDSB’s in-person learning model for secondary students. Thames Valley District School Board

“This changes affect every single student schedule in the district and over 25,000 secondary students are being re-timetabled,” Fisher said. “While this is happening, we are also organizing full remote learning for over 12,280 students.

“Our capacity to do this work is, to be completely candid, stretched to the absolute limit.”

Along with the delayed start to the school year, the meeting also revealed plans for masking students at TVDSB.

Story continues below advertisement

Read more: Canada to release mask guidelines for children, recommend them for kids aged 10+

Medical masks will be required for all staff. Non-medical masks are necessary for students from Grade 4 to Grade 12, but are only strongly recommended for students in Grade 3 and under.

Fisher told the meeting these rules reflect directions from Southwestern Public Health and the Middlesex-London Health Unit — both of which cover schools in TVDSB.

“(The health units) are very, very clear that no single student should ever be excluded from school for non-compliance for not wearing a mask between Kindergarten and Grade 3,” Fisher said.

Dipping into reserve funds

Tuesday’s meeting also saw board trustees approve a request to use $9.4 million of its reserve fund to help cover pandemic-related costs.

The money amounts to nearly half of TVDSB’s available reserve fund and will help cover more than $18 million in projected expenses.

Read more: Coronavirus: Ontario allows boards to tap into reserve funds, 4 unions allege back-to-school plan breaks law

Those projected expenses include the hiring of additional custodial staff, along with additional teachers, administrators and technology to support remote learning.

Story continues below advertisement

Combining the reserving funding with other projected revenues, TVDSB is projecting a funding shortfall just under $2.8 million.

Coronavirus: Ontario education minister breaks down back-to-school
Coronavirus: Ontario education minister breaks down back-to-school

© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.



tinyurlis.gdu.nuclck.ruulvis.net
آخرین مطالب
مقالات مشابه
نظرات کاربرن