Public schools will join Windsor's Catholic board in staggering start dates as they return to class in the fall.
The province gave the go ahead to stagger start times when classes resume during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) included the measure in its latest back-to-school plan released at Tuesday night's special meeting.
All students grades one to 12 will be in class by Friday, Sept. 11. Early year students will not attend school until the following week, on Monday, Sept. 14.
(Photo courtesy of publicboard.ca)
Superintendent Jeff Hillman says bringing students back in smaller groups gives the board more time to fine tune its plans.
"It does allow us a chance to see what school looks like with 100 students instead of 500, but the notion of not starting school on Sept. 8 ... that's not an option," he says.
Like the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB), the majority of those surveyed will be sending their kids back to the classroom.
But Superintendent Chris Mills says the board is still waiting on close to 12,000 students to confirm their intentions.
"We will be looking at lowering class sizes while also staffing our virtual school so we'll have to take that into consideration that there will be staff needed for locations and for printed packages," says Mills.
Masks are recommended for Kindergarten to Grade 3, but not required. Non-medical masks must be worn in schools at all times for Grade 4 to 12.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed says there are challenges when it comes to masks and small children.
"As we continue to look at all the evidence and information and the feasibility of the recommendations that we make, if there's an opportunity for us to make any changes we will," says the Medical Officer of Health for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
Only 20 per cent of families opted for online learning and 10 per cent chose correspondence courses.
Just over 23,000 of the board's 35,000 students are accounted for with the survey deadline set for Friday at 12 p.m. The catholic board has only received survey results from half of its more than 20,000 students.
Both school boards say they'll be reaching out to parents who have yet to confirm their intention for the upcoming school year next week.
An outline of proper screening procedures for parents before sending kids to school is also in place on the GECDSB's website.