With concerns about the Omicron COVID-19 variant swirling from the provincial and federal governments, what the near future for schools looks like is a hot topic right now for parents.
Right now in Ontario, nearly one out of five schools has an active case of COVID-19 and 20 schools are closed.
Greater Essex ETFO president Mario Spagnuolo tweeted Tuesday night that there are rumours of pivoting to online learning in January, but nothing has been confirmed as they need to wait for the Medical Officer of Health.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive Wednesday morning, Spagnuolo says right now similar to students and parents they're only hearing rumours.
"What we do know officially is that the school board has advised teachers to be prepared in case we need to pivot after the break," he continued. "That they be ready to do that and to teach virtually, as well as preparing students."
While the fate of in-person learning after the winter break is unknown, the acting medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, said earlier this week he hopes students can remain in school.
Despite that, Spagnuolo says it's important to get students and teachers ready for whatever could happen, because it's difficult to pivot immediately given the current provincial government has tended to make these kind of announcements during school breaks.
"And at that point we wouldn't be able to communicate with students so we're doing it in advance. Which I think is just being proactive, unfortunately it increases anxiety for the students, staff and parents. But I think it is the right thing to do considering what's happening around us," he said.
Windsor-Essex schools switched to online learning a week before the holiday break last year, and schools remained closed to in-person learning until Feb. 8, 2021.
Spagnuolo hopes that the lessons learned from last year will help them be able to adjust and adapt to any provincial decisions.
"The other thing that unfortunately we have a lot of experience with in this area is with the amount of cohorts being sent home, many kids have already learnt online between September and now. So there's definitely more experience out there, it's something we wished we didn't have to do, but we need to be prepared in case public health decides that is the safest route or if the government decides to do that as well."
Spagnuolo says both students and their parents have been champions in trying to navigate things since the pandemic began, and he's hopeful whatever decision the province makes will allow enough time for them to prepare.
The provincial government usually decides if schools remain open or closed, but local health units have the authority to issue a special order to close schools if they determine it necessary for the region.
- with files from AM800's The Morning Drive