By Jaime Myslik and Joanne Shuttleworth
GUELPH – About one tenth of students in the Wellington Catholic District School Board will be learning online this fall while the other 90 per cent of families have chosen to return to face-to-face learning in September, according to the board’s survey results as of Aug. 17.
“We are hoping to be going back out to our community this week with further information that addresses some of the questions raised by parents,” Wellington Catholic incoming director of education Michael Glazier said in an email interview on Aug. 17.
Wellington Catholic and the Upper Grand District School Board are both non-designated boards so students in elementary and secondary school will be returning full time to school in September, unless their parents/guardians choose to keep them home and participate in a new online learning model.
“We continue to refine our return to school plan so as to provide the greatest amount of detail to our families,” Glazier said.
“This includes the establishment of a virtual schools that will include the minimum requirements for instructional time as well as the ministry established expectations for synchronous and asynchronous learning.
“We are communicating regularly with our community through our board website and social media.”
The Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) has not yet revealed the results of its survey of parents but has said in the past it will offer robust in-class and online learning.
Ministry of Education announcements and requirements are evolving quickly as the start of school fast approaches.
On Aug. 13 the ministry made an announcement that it was providing more than a half billion dollars in supports to school boards to ensure that schools can open safely in September.
However, there’s a catch – additional government funding of up to $11 million is only available to boards that don’t have sufficient reserves. Boards that have healthy reserves can access up to 2% of their operating budget from last year’s accumulated surplus.
Wellington Catholic falls in the latter category. The board has an operating budget of $102 million for 2020-21. That means the board can run a deficit of $2 million in additional funding for this year that will be drawn from reserves.
“Based on preliminary planning, we are anticipating increased costs associated with transportation, staffing and health and safety which will require the board to utilize the full amount,” Glazier said. “The majority of the board’s reserves have been appropriated for things such as capital improvements, new information systems, childcare and early on and regulatory commitments.
“We are meeting with our board of trustees to review and discuss the redirection of reserves this week.”
The Upper Grand District School Board is in the same boat.
Megan Sicoli, administrative officer in the communications department, said in an email that according to the recent ministry announcement, boards can access 2% of the Grants for Student Needs operating allocation – “an increase from the 1% restriction that was in place. 2% of UGDSB’s Grants for Student Needs Operating Allocation is approximately $8 million.”
The Upper Grand board was to meet Aug. 18 to finalize its 2021-22 operating budget with this new information. The board is expected to approve an operating budget of $416,337,588 and a capital budget of $49,126,629.
Both boards will also receive personal protective equipment including masks, face shields, gloves and gowns for staff and students as required.
Another option the government gave to schools was to use this additional funding to lease space to make room for smaller classes. However, Glazier said Wellington Catholic doesn’t anticipate the need to rent out any additional community space.
“We will use alternative learning spaces within the school as needed, such as the library or designated science rooms,” he said. “In addition, we will maximize outdoor learning time whenever possible.”
Sicoli said Upper Grand will follow class sizes as per the Ministry of Education guidelines and at this time, doesn’t expect to need to rent additional space.
“Current class caps are: Kindergarten 29; primary classes – 90% of classes are capped at 20, with no primary class exceeding 23, junior/intermediate classes are based on a board-wide average of 24.5 and secondary class size caps vary by type of class, ranging from 10 to 31. Based on the announcement by the ministry that allows school boards an increase access to their Accumulated Surplus, UGDSB is currently reviewing options on what can be operational by the start of the school year. This review is still underway,” she said.
The ministry is also working with school boards to improve and upgrade ventilation, air quality and HVAC systems as well as broadband internet connectivity in schools.
“The ventilation systems in our schools are fully functional and the scheduled preventative maintenance for these systems is either complete or will be before school starts,” Glazier said. He also added that all schools in Wellington Catholic have been completed under the broadband modernization project, “which includes dedicated internet connection and an increased bandwidth capacity.”
Sicoli said ventilation systems at Upper Grand schools are in pretty good shape.
“UGDSB has consistently been investing in overall school maintenance including ventilation systems and overall, our schools are well maintained. Similar to all school boards in the province, ventilation needs for the upcoming school year will continue to be reviewed based upon public health and Ministry of Education information. Currently, ventilation requirements are being reviewed by the board’s operations department,” she said.
She said Upper Grand has completed its broadband modernization project as well, “and have more than sufficient bandwidth since the implementation of the project. “
