Hundreds of Hamilton students opting for short-term remote learning amid virus spread

A Hamilton elementary teachers' union is concerned that educators will have to work to recoup lost learning for students temporarily schooling online.

Amid the Omicron-drive wave of COVID, hundreds of Hamilton students have opted to continue asynchronous online learning, meaning students work independently on a lesson or assignment with no real-time instruction.

These students will have lost individualized learning and teachers will need to catch them up," Jeff Sorensen, president of the Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers' Local union, said in an email. The work will just be delayed, which will have the effect of increasing workload over the year."

At the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, about 1,430 students - 900 elementary and 530 secondary - are learning online temporarily for a period of time.

We're hopeful that within a few weeks ... parents to those that are (online) temporary will decide to move their children back (to) school," said chair Pat Daly.

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board numbers are expected to be available Monday.

We continue to process requests for short-term virtual learning option," said public board spokesperson Shawn McKillop in an email.

Most students returned to in-person learning last week after about two weeks of remote learning following the winter break.

At both boards, online students learn independently, completing activities - and, at the secondary level, submitting assignments for grading - virtually.

The purpose of this is to allow parents to have an opportunity to keep their students at home until they are comfortable in returning to school, which we hope is quite soon," said public board superintendent Bill Torrens at a Jan. 21 information session.

At the public board, this option will be available until at least Feb. 18 for elementary students. High school students can continue in this model up until the start of next semester, which begins in early February.

Daily learning activities can be downloaded online or picked up from schools. The board says packages will not be assessed by teachers. "

Torrens said the materials are designed for independent learning, but do need some parent support" for younger students.

Secondary students will also learn independently, but assignments will be assessed by their teachers.

Sorensen said teachers expect to have less information for report card grades, an issue that has persisted throughout the pandemic.

Due to the chaos of the year, some students will lack sufficient data on which to base grades and therefore should, according to the ministry, receive an I' on their report card," he said.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Education, the code I" is used for students in Grade 1 to 10 to indicate that insufficient evidence is available to determine a letter grade or percentage mark."

Use of I"s increased dramatically during the pandemic, with Catholic board teachers assigning 82,403 in 2019-20 and 11,454 in 2020-21 - well above pre-pandemic averages.

At the public board, students learning virtually on a temporary basis will be marked absent from their home schools.

Principals will ask families to complete a temporary excusal from school form and students will be marked absent until they return to in-person learning," McKillop said.

At the Catholic board, students will be marked present.

They would not be disadvantaged like that. Absolutely not," Daly said.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com