Students will switch to online learning Monday and all staff were initially expected to work from schools
Staff at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board will now have the option to work from home.
The head of the secondary school teachers union took issue with staff not being given the option when the health unit ordered a shift to online learning Thursday afternoon. Teachers and support staff have children of their own who will need supervision now that they're learning from home.
Director of Education Terry Lyons says a lot happened very quickly and the board has had time to reconsider its position.
"The news hit us pretty quick and we continue to move forward," he says. "Part of being in leadership is trying to find the best ways to meet the ways of our system. Our kids are the most important things to us all, but our staff is very important to us too."
Lyons says there's a lot to work out with the region heading into the Grey Lockdown Level under the provinces COVID-19 response framework Monday.
"We wanted to be fair to everybody, but we think that our teachers that can be at work need to be at work," he says. "For those teachers that have extenuating circumstances, if we have the ability to allow them to work from home then we decided we can allow them to work from home."
Students switch to online learning Monday morning and will continue through the week before heading into the Christmas break.