Dear parents/guardians,
It has been quite a year for all of us at Trillium Lakelands District School Board! The challenges faced by families and by staff alike have been numerous and frequent. I want to thank you for your continued support and patience as we have navigated our way during the pandemic. Before the end of the school year we will be providing an opportunity for your feedback on important things you’d like to share about your child’s learning experience during the pandemic.
While the pandemic is not yet over, there is hope in sight. There is a real possibility that widespread vaccination programs will make many more opportunities available to us as we begin planning for the new school year in September. At this time our planning is going to be on the assumption that all students will be back in schools for in-person learning at the beginning of September. This means that all students will be enrolled for in-person at-school learning in their home school. At-home remote learning may be considered for September 2021 if school boards are directed by the Ministry of Education or if a concern related to the COVID-19 pandemic is raised by local public health. Due to the tremendous amount of work put in place, we are now able to quickly pivot when needed into remote learning.
As we plan for students to be in schools in September, there will continue to be stringent health measures in place. The enhanced level of cleaning in schools will be in place if there continues to be concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is possible that staff and students will continue to wear masks. Classroom cohorts may continue to be in place and secondary schools may continue using octomester blocks for students. All of these decisions will be made using advice and direction from the Ministry of Education and our ongoing collaboration with local public health. Our school communities will need to remain flexible as we plan for the new school year in a time of uncertainty. We will continue to provide information to families as any new information becomes available.
Again, I want to express my gratitude for the tremendous support you have provided to us as we have navigated our way this year. The pandemic has been hard on families and on our system as a whole. However, as our TLDSB mission statement states, we are “Better Together.” We will continue to work with our parents as partners in education to provide the best possible outcomes under these challenging circumstances.
All COVID-19 information and updates can be found on tldsb.ca/covid19/.
Sincerely,
Wes Hahn
Director of Education
