A cold yet sunny morning greeted returning elementary and secondary students on Tuesday. It was their first time back in the classroom since before the Christmas break.
Most schools in Ontario moved to online learning the first week of January in an effort to halt surging Omicron COVID-19 cases. With some revised safety measures in place, students across the province were to return to in-class learning Jan. 17. A severe weather event, however, made Monday a snow day.
“I think it’s a good thing that they’re going back,” says parent and teacher Brooke MacKinnon. “Obviously there’s some risk and we don’t really know how long they’ll be there. I think socially and academically it’s really good for them.”
For parent Eric Connell, he says there isn’t much apprehension about going back to in-class learning.
“I mean, we’re close to having it being an endemic and let’s just get it over with,” Connell says. “We’re going to be stuck with this forever so let’s get on with it.”
And while one day does not a term or quadmester make, back to in-person learning and what that brings with it, for some, sure beats doing everything online.
“It’s been a challenge, but I feel like this time around they had a better handle on it than last time,” Connell continues. “I was really impressed with the primary teachers and how they handled it.”
The vast majority of students returned to in-class learning Tuesday, and Limestone District School Board (LDSB) Director of Education Krishna Burra says there are many benefits to that model.
“In terms of not only the preference for the teaching and learning in that particular environment, but also the social connections and other advantages that are so important for student well being that are available when students are in school,” says Burra.
But not everyone could make it to class, thanks to the lingering effects of the snowstorm.
Some buses in the region didn’t run because of the weather, but that wasn’t the case in the Kingston area.
“We’re all about safety, we should be all about safety and so we’ll err on the side of safety every time,” says Tri-Board Transportation CEO Gord Taylor.
Taylor says there are a number of factors that are used when dealing with what he calls “a weather event.”
“One is the forecast that we’re facing, and we look at that days ahead,” he says. “One is the current conditions — is it snowing, sleeting, rain, freezing rain. And the third thing is what we call legacy conditions. Are the roads still a mess, are the turnarounds bad, are the bus loops ploughed, can we get into streets and roads.”
Taylor says a number of qualified people are used when making the call to keep the buses off the road including drivers, staff from involved municipalities, as well Ministry of Transportation officials and many others.