Letter to Parents & Guardians - Remote Learning Schedules for January 2021

Posted On Monday December 28, 2020

December 28, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,  

As communicated on December 21, 2020, the Ministry of Education has mandated that in conjunction with the province-wide shut down, all schools in the province will be closed to students from January 4-8, 2021. Buses will not be running during this time. Students and staff will be engaged in remote learning from home during the closures. Currently, elementary schools are scheduled to re-open for face-to-face learning on January 11, 2021 and secondary schools are scheduled to resume in person instruction on January 25, 2021.  

The following information is being provided to families to outline basic system-wide expectations during the remote learning period. More school specific information will be forthcoming once school resumes on January 4, 2021. 

 

SCHEDULES FOR LEARNING 

Virtual Schools – Elementary and Secondary 

For students previously enrolled in virtual learning (elementary or secondary) online instruction will resume on January 4, 2021 according to the previously established schedule.    

Elementary (Kindergarten – Grade 8) 

January 4, 2021 - Afternoon 

  • Parents/Guardians can expect that educators will connect with their students in the afternoon using board approved platforms 
  • Schedules for the week, assignments and information will be sent from the school/educator to each student/family via Edsby and/or board email 
  • Real-time learning will be done through Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Brightspace  

January 5-8, 2021 

  • Educators will post work online every day for those students who cannot connect in real time 
  • At the beginning of the week, the teacher will post the online learning schedule for each day (including French and the subjects taught by itinerant teachers) and provide any necessary links for their Zoom/Microsoft Teams sessions 
  • Instruction will generally follow the regular school schedule online (i.e., start and end times, lunch etc.) 
  • During some of the time, educators will conduct lessons online, at other times they will be available to answer questions and provide feedback 

General Timelines: 

Kindergarten students should be able to access up to 180 minutes of learning each day.
Students in Grades 1-8 should be able to access up to 225 minutes of learning each day. 

 

Secondary (Grades 9-12) 

Beginning January 4, 2021 and continuing until Secondary schools reopen on January 25, 2021 students in Grades 9-12 will continue to follow the same schedule that was in place prior to the Christmas Weekly Schedule Break with the following important exceptions: 

1.   All students will be expected to engage in online learning in the morning (Blocks 1 and 2) every day. 

2.   Lunch break will be 60 minutes. 

3.   Students attending All Saints and Msgr. John Pereyma Catholic Secondary Schools will continue to follow their current schedule and start times of 8:50 a.m. (All Saints) and 9:00 a.m.
      (Pereyma) as noted on their schools’ websites.

 

Daily Schedule for all Secondary Schools (except All Saint and Msgr. Pereyma)

10:00 – 11:15   Block 1
11:15 – 12:30   Block 2
12:30 – 1:30     Lunch
1:30 – 2:45       Block 3
2:45 – 4:00       Block 4 - office hours 

 

Weekly Schedule for all students in grades 9-12

January 4-8:      Block 1 & 2 - Course 4/Block 3 & 4 - Course 3
January 11-15: Block 1 & 2 - Course 3/Block 3 & 4 - Course 4 

January 18 - 20  Block 1 & 2 - Course 4/Block 3 & 4 - Course 3
January 21 - 22  Block 1 & 2 - Course 3/Block 3 & 4 - Course 4 

*The modification to the January 18-22, 2021 schedule has been made to balance the number of minutes of instruction for each course. 

 

STUDENTS WITH EXCEPTIONAL SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS 

Program Support Teachers will connect with the parents/guardians of our students with exceptional education needs beginning on January 4, 2021 in order to discuss programming needs and to put the necessary accommodations in place. Where required and appropriate, secondary students with the highest special needs who have been attending on a daily, extended schedule will be provided with the opportunity to attend school in-person starting on January 11, 2021. 

 

ATTENDANCE 

During the period of remote learning, it is requested that parents/guardians continue to report absences using our board’s SafeArrival program.  

While the instructional minutes listed above for Elementary students (Kindergarten – Grade 8) must be provided, it is understood that during the week of January 4-8, 2021, not all students may be able to be online for the full 180/225mins. 

  • If a student connects any time during the day they should be marked as present.  
  • If a parent/guardian indicates that the student will not be connecting synchronously but will be doing the work at home, they will also be marked as present.  

Secondary students are expected to connect online during each block in order to be marked as present. 

 

TECHNOLOGY 

It is understood that for families with multiple school age children, simultaneous online learning may be difficult if there are a limited number of devices in the household. For students in Kindergarten – Grade 8, educators will ensure that daily work is posted so that if a student cannot connect online at a specific time, they will still be able to access learning materials and assignments.   

Where access to technology is a barrier, families should contact the school for support.  

For technical support on Board issued devices or applications such as Edsby, D2L/Brightspace, Office 365, etc., please email?TechnologySupport@dcdsb.ca?and explain the issue you are experiencing such as password reset. Please include in the email, the student name, student User ID, date of birth, school name, grade and phone number where we can contact you. 

Edsby Support for Parents/Guardians/Students 
Instructional videos are available for parents/guardians/students online at: https://dcdsb.ca/Edsby 
 

Additional Ministry Supports for Learning 

Parents/Guardians are reminded that the Ministry of Education recently announced?the launch of two new portals,?TVO Learn?and?TFO?IDÉLLO, apprendre à la maison, which provide supports for students learning remotely by accessing additional educational resources developed by Ontario certified teachers.? ? 

We recognize that these are challenging times for everyone and thank you in advance for your ongoing efforts to work in collaboration with school staff to support continued learning for our students.  

May you continue to stay safe at home during this period of provincial shutdown and may God’s blessings be with all of us as we move with hope and love into a New Year.


Yours in Faith,

  

Tracy Barill,
Director of Education