Hamilton’s public school board prepares for possibility of fully remote learning

The chair of Hamilton’s public school board says students should bring “everything home that they need to continue learning in January.”

That direction from Dawn Danko follows a memo to school boards from Ontario’s Education Ministry to prepare for the possibility of fully remote learning after the holidays.

Danko says that while she appreciates that the ministry is placing a priority on student, staff and community safety, and is trying to keep schools open throughout COVID-19, “it is sometimes problematic when an announcement like this comes out two days before everyone is leaving for a winter break.”

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Danko says the board’s plan for device deployment, if necessary, in January “would look something like what we had to do in the spring where families can pick up devices.”

Despite efforts to increase their inventory, Danko says they may have to assign “one device per family to start and see where we are for numbers.”

She adds that the direction is also likely to disrupt the winter break for many school board employees since “if we need to have devices ready to go, in a location that can be deployed out right away in January, we probably need to bring people in over the holidays.”

Hamilton schools have recorded double-digit numbers of new COVID-19 infections over each of the last three days.

Ten students and one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

There are currently four school outbreaks at Lawfield Elementary, Dr. J.E. Davey Elementary, Frank Panabaker North School and Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary.