The St. Clair Catholic District School Board is looking to gather information from parents/guardians and adult students (age 18 years and older) regarding plans for the reopening of schools in September.

On July 30, 2020 Minister of Education Stephen Lecce directed that the Board’s elementary and secondary schools will reopen in September with a return to full-time, in-class learning with enhanced safety measures.  The Board’s #SeptemberReady team has been planning for this possibility and is working in collaboration with the Lambton and Chatham-Kent Medical Officers of Health, to develop measures which promote the health, safety and wellbeing of all students and staff.

In order to support planning for the 2020-2021 school year, the Board is looking to gather important feedback from families about their intentions regarding the return to school in September.  The question is simply this:

The Minister of Education has directed that elementary and secondary schools will reopen in September with full time in-person classroom learning, with enhanced safety measures.  Will your child:

• Return to school for in-person classroom learning; or
• Participate in online teacher-led learning at home.

After August 28, 2020 there will be limited opportunities within the school year for parents/guardians to switch their child’s school experience from electronic to face-to-face instruction. Families must notify the school in advance and there will be a waiting period prior to their child’s admission to school, depending on scheduling and availability of classroom space.

The survey link will be emailed directly to parents/guardians and adult students on Friday, July 31, 2020 using an email address on file. Parents/guardians and adult students who do not have an email address on file should contact the Board at backtoschool@sccdsb.net or call 1-866-336-6139 and press 2. 

Health, safety and well-being for students and staff have been our highest priorities since we began our #SeptemberReady safe return to school planning.  It is important now that we hear from our parents/guardians and adult students, as we continue to develop our plans.  Our goal is to provide an excellent learning experience for all St. Clair Catholic students, in school environments that promote health, safety and well-being for all.

As per directions from the Ministry of Education, like all publicly funded school boards, St. Clair Catholic has developed plans for three possible scenarios:

• A return to regular, in-class learning with enhanced health and safety protocols; 
• An adaptive model, including a modified school day routine with a maximum limit of 15 students in a typical classroom at one time, with alternate day scheduling and timetabling that would limit student contact with teachers and classmates as much as possible; and 
• A continuation of remote, teacher-led at-home learning.

The Board will be prepared to respond to changes, as necessary, throughout the 2020-2021 school year based on directions from the Ministry and provincial and local Medical Officers of Health.

Visit St. Clair Catholic’s #SeptemberReady web page at http://newsdesk.st-clair.net/category/september-ready/ for updates.