Some in Hamilton ‘relieved,’ others frustrated after schools shuttered

A Hamilton high school student who petitioned the Ontario government to close schools said she is relieved" the province decided to have students study remotely for at least two weeks as Omicron spreads.

I'm not really ecstatic that we have to be online because I know it's really hard for me," said Saanvi Sood, 16, a Grade 11 student at Saltfleet District High School. But I also don't think that schools are really safe."

At a news conference Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced public and private schools in Ontario would move online from Jan. 5 until at least Jan. 17, the latest in a string of closures that have defined students' lives for nearly two years.

This is the fourth time Ontario schools, which have in total been closed longer than any other province, have shut down since the onset of the pandemic.

Sood said she hopes the government uses the time to really implement" additional measures, which include N95 masks for teachers, three-ply cloth masks for students and additional standalone HEPA filters for students.

It's been almost two years and I really don't see any changes in schools," she said.

The 16-year-old is concerned about crowded classrooms," lack of distancing and vaccine hesitancy among peers.

The Stoney Creek secondary school has a student vaccination rate of about 77 per cent, in the top third of schools.

Sood has seen the effects of COVID first-hand. Her aunt was hospitalized last month after testing positive for the virus.

It is believed she got it from her child, who was attending school," she said.

Though some are relieved, many parents and caregivers, who have borne the brunt of remote learning through the pandemic, are voicing their discontent.

One Hamilton parent is staging a protest - masked and distanced - at Lime Ridge Mall on the Mountain for parents and backpack-clad students on Wednesday, the same day kids were originally set to be back in classrooms after the extended break.

We can go to the mall, but we can't go to school," said organizer Rebecca Abraham, a Hamilton parent to five kids, three of them school-aged. We want them to be in school ... If we don't protest, it is going to be an endless circle of schools shutting down."

Abraham, whose double-vaccinated kids attend the Hamilton Hebrew Academy, said she is concerned about her kids' social-emotional development and disrupted learning - not the virus itself.

I have fears in regards to their social skills ... and I have fears that they're going to go back to constant screen time and fighting," she said.

In a Twitter thread Monday, McMaster University epidemiologist Dr. Dominic Mertz said closing schools is heading in the wrong direction."

It is neither the kids ... nor their double- or triple-vaccinated parents who are at highest risk for severe Omicron infection and are straining our health-care system," he wrote.

In a Jan. 3 letter, Ontario's Children's Health Coalition - which includes McMaster Children's Hospital - said its members were saddened" by the government's decision.

The harms to children and youth while schools are closed are significant," the letter reads.

At Hamilton school boards, staff and students are busy pivoting to remote - once again with limited time to plan.

Timely planning and communication did not happen and we're just hearing from our families and from our staff, what a significant impact that has," said Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board chair Dawn Danko.

Danko said some families, particularly those with a parent at home, will be able to support kids' learning during the remote period. Others, however, will have to choose between going to work and supervising kids at home.

The burden of this is not distributed equally," she said.

Many homes - nearly 60 per cent, according to a Statistics Canada survey - don't have enough devices for everyone in the home, meaning some kids may not have immediate access to the tools they need to learn remotely.

Spokesperson Shawn McKillop said in an email all elementary students in Grade 1 to 8 who require a device will have access to one. Students in homes without reliable internet access can request a device with data.

At the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, many students took their devices home before the winter break, said chair Pat Daly.

If they still are in need of them ... the school will make arrangements to provide them," he said.

Both public and Catholic boards anticipate students will have devices in hand by the end of the week.

Daryl Jerome, president of the local bargaining unit for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), said the move to remote was unfortunately necessary" given the virus' rapid spread and lack of tangible planning and supports" from the government.

What my members want to know is what did this government do over the holiday break and what are they going to do during the two-week remote learning to ensure that our schools are as safe as possible," he said.

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