Thousands of students return to classrooms across the region Tuesday and both the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) and Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) are ready to welcome them back.
Enrolment at both boards is up this year, with the Catholic board estimating approximately 23,700 students for the 2024-25 school year, and the public board estimates just over 36,000 students.
Catholic board director of education Emelda Byrne calls the enrolment increase 'healthy' and attributes it to more people moving to the region.
"In our elementary panel, 14,600 [students]. Secondary panel, 8,100 and then we have about 1,000 students in our adult program. So we have about 23,700 students, which is about 700 more than last year at this time."
Vicki Houston, director of education with the public board says they are expecting more students than what was projected in the spring with full numbers to be released once registrations are completed.
"It's in multiple areas in very different communities. Sometimes we see in certain areas, but this year we're starting to see it in some different pockets and then our two new schools that are opening, we're also seeing increased enrolments and registrations."
On Tuesday, GECDSB will open two brand new schools.
Beacon Heights Public School will open in Tecumseh and serve approximately 650 students kindergarten to Grade 8.
Erie Migration District School in Kingsville will be home to around 1,750 students in kindergarten to Grade 12.
Houston says they can't wait to welcome students.
"A huge thank you to both the Town of Tecumseh as well as the Town of Kingsville in helping us to get these projects, with the inspections, with all the permit processing, last minute requests that we had to be able to get them open."
The first day of school also marks the start of a new cellphone ban in Ontario classrooms.
Students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be asked to keep their phones on silent and out of sight for the entire day, unless permitted by an educator.
Students in Grades 7 and 12 will be permitted to use cellphones on school property but only outside of class time.
Byrne says all principals and vice-principals at the Catholic board will brief their staff on the new policy this week.
"This is new information for our students and their parents and we're hoping they understand the rational of the new ministry directive. It's really around wanting to eliminate those distractions in the classrooms so teachers can teach, and students can learn."
Houston says students are expected to continue to follow the rules regarding cellphones that the board had previously set in place.
"If it's in contravention to the policy, we'll ask them to please put it out of sight either in their backpack, their pocket or their locker depending on their age. Failure to comply with that, there will be communication home to the parent about what the expectations are and looking for them to support us in helping their child to not be distracted from their phone while they're at school."
School buses will also be back on area roads, something Bryne wants drivers to be mindful of.
"Just making sure that the safety of our students, their children, are taking into account. So drive slower, look out for those buses on Tuesday morning. We do want to make sure that all of our students get to school safely for the first day of school."
The Catholic board has hired 53 elementary and 17 secondary teachers for the new school according to Byrne.
While the public board says it continues to fill positions as there were a notable number of retirements last year, but Houston was unable to provide an exact number.