The Director of Education for the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) says the province's plan for students to return to the classroom has certainly been "well considered."
Erin Kelly says the board, along with other school boards from across Ontario, provided input and shared ideas with province.
She says boards will need to be able to adapt and be nimble with planning.
Kelly says scenarios will be different for every family.
"Not every family or situation is going to be the same so this would allow for those students whose parents feel their children should not be attending school if will allow for that," says Kelly. "It will also allow for in class learning with a variety of time tables."
She believes timetables will be different as well.
"Even if we do every other day for example, there would be a number of safety protocols, the class sizes would be distinctly different," says Kelly. "There would be a number of things that would have to of course be considered, our building would be the same, our classrooms would have fewer kids in them, that would be the main difference."
Erin Kelly, Director of Education for the Greater Essex County District School Board, attends the January 17, 2017 regular meeting of the board of trustees. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Kelly believes the board will be reaching out to parents.
"I think parents will certainly need to choose a method, what they want and what works for them but all of the students we would serve," says Kelly. "As we make our plans, we would be sharing those plans and people would have as to what they would like to do so I suspect a reach out from us. I recognize we have a lot of planning to do this summer."
As heard on AM800 News Friday, Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced schools will reopen in September.
School boards are being asked to prepare three scenarios for the return to school in September, but the education minister expects there to be a mix of in-class and online learning.
Lecce also said there will be no more than 15 students in class and attending on alternating days or weeks.
Schools across the province have been closed since March 13 because of COVID-19.