Bluewater District School Board Executive Director Alana Murray has a message for stressed parents: They aren't expected to take over schooling their kids during this pandemic.
“The government does not expect that to happen. This is in no way going to look like regular school,” says Murray.
She says students don't need to put in school day hours or anything close to it, “They've set some timelines, basically two or three hours a week.”
“What it would look like is that students would receive some work, they would work on it independently, resubmit that work,” (depending on if they have internet access) but Murray says it's not work that will be graded to decide if a student passes or fails. The bulk of students will be assessed based on the work they've done up to March.
Murray says many parents are already working from home and “We're really trying not to add any more pressure to families” she says, “What you're trying to do is find activities that keep your children engaged because you also have responsibilities to take care of. “
Her advice is to “Set a schedule in your home, set aside some time where there's some quiet time for students to learn.”
She says, “From a parent perspective, the rest of the time is really about scheduling your child so that they have some constructive things to do. Some reading time, some time to work on puzzles or games, some time to watch educational television if that's available to them…some time to do independent play.”
When asked if students will fall behind because of this Murray says, “Two things are for sure in this particular situation. This is a shared experience across the globe. So this is not a unique situation for us in Bruce and Grey. This particular cohort of students will have a shared experience for their entire lifetime. So everybody's trying to figure this out. “
Murray says young children with TV or internet can access TVO programming. She says the government is working on independent lessons for older students to be provided through TVO, “Those are just being finalized now.”
Murray notes, “There is no doubt that in rural Ontario there are huge equity issues in terms of not only access to equipment but access to reliable internet service and this isn't just about our students, it's about our staff as well.”
When schools were shut down, Murray says the first phase of what the board did was make sure students and families were able to connect to teachers either through phone or text message or email, then they worked on getting the equipment teachers needed out of the schools, and now they're working on getting materials to students who need them.
Murray says the board is working on getting equipment for students with special education needs. She adds the board is working on mailing out some materials to students who don't have internet access.
“I think at the end of the day the focus is really on activities that keep students minds active and much like you would, if you were going away on a holiday in the summer, you might have things for students to read or puzzle books for them to work on.”
“I think routine and schedule is important. I think much like I would do in the summer when my children were younger they would have outside play. they would have quiet time where they were reading in their rooms, we might have a family activity where we're playing a game together or i might give them a task, a treasure hunt to go out and find different things or write about different things. I think there are a lot of things parents can do and i don't think they should worry about it.”
“I really want to say, parents, you are not teachers, you are not expected to be teachers.”
Murray says for students who are in their graduating year, the government is working in partnership with the colleges and universities to look at admission requirements, “I would really say to them, just take a step back, take a deep breath it is going to work out and to not worry too much. If they have not heard about any acceptances, those will be coming. We are looking at submitting the most up to date marks for those students. I would just say don't worry it will work out.”
She says for students who were struggling, their teachers are trying to fill those gaps,”They aren't going to give credits away, if the students hadn't demonstrated prior to March that they had accomplished things, they aren't just going to automatically get a credit.”
She says the overwhelming majority of students are going to progress as expected. “The government is working really diligently to ensure that they have fair access to post-secondary.”
She says they're looking at what to do about actual graduation celebrations as well.
At the moment, the province says schools will remain closed past May 4th, after the provincial lockdown was extended another 28 days.
You can listen to Alana Murray and Board Chair Jan Johnstone on the Open Line show podcast HERE.