OTTAWA As the week long April break comes to an end, elementary and secondary school teachers and students will be shifting to online learning. The Ontario government announced last Monday that schools will be closed to in-person learning starting Monday, April 19 due to the COVID-19 situation across the province. CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at the back to school plans this week as schools shift to remote learning.
OTTAWA CARLETON DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD The Ottawa Carleton District School Board says April 19 will be an asynchronous learning day for all OCDSB elementary and secondary school students and staff. This will allow for important transition time, said the board.
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Schools in the area will be getting millions of dollars as part of a larger infrastructure investment by the federal and provincial governments.
On Wednesday morning, the governments announced $656.5 million in funding for upgrades related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In a release, Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes MPP Steve Clark said $27.6 million would be split between four school boards in the region.
The funding is available immediately for the boards to use and implemented for retrofits, updates and upgrades in areas concerning air quality, safe drinking water and space reconfiguration to enhance physical distancing.
The federal and provincial governments are giving a total of nearly $60 million to five local school boards for infrastructure upgrades in the fight against COVID-19.
In a news release Wednesday afternoon, the feds and the province said the $56.8 million in funding will go toward retrofitting and upgrading schools and attached child-care facilities across the region.
The release said projects could include renovating HVAC systems to improve air quality, installing water bottle refilling stations to boost access to safe drinking water and reconfiguring rooms with features such as new walls and doors to enhance physical distancing.
The funding will be allocated to the boards as follows:
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As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the province, students will not be in the classroom anytime soon.
Following his letter to parents over the weekend, in which he stated schools would remain open where they were not already closed, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Monday in-class learning would be halted.
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Most schools are currently on a week-long break that usually occurs in March. Instead of returning to classrooms next Monday, students will be learning from home. Any private schools that have classes this week were ordered to transition to remote learning by Thursday.
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