The directors of education of the public and Catholic school boards both believe students will return to the classroom before June

Students will begin online learning again next week – the third time students have been kept from the classroom since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. The province hasn’t said how long it will last.

It’s reminiscent of March 2020 when students went on March Break and didn’t return to the classroom.

Before the Ontario Science Table released information saying we would need six weeks of strict measures to make an impact on the rise of COVID-19, both John Howitt of the Lambton-Kent District School Board and Deb Crawford of the St. Clair District Catholic School Board were optimistic about the chances of a return to the classroom.

“I’m very hopeful that they will be going back before the end of the year. I think that that is the desire of everyone in the education system,” says Crawford.

“I know that the ministry is very determined that as soon as we can bring the kids back to school safely, they’ll be back in school.”

Crawford is hopeful the community will follow public health measures carefully “I hope that working all together that we can bring this down.”

Howitt agreed saying he’s “very optimistic that our students will be back. We are not at the end of the school year by any stretch of the imagination.”

“For our secondary students, they still have two credits ahead of them this school year that are just starting. We’re very optimistic that the students will be back. We believe our schools are safe places to learn. And we believe the data supports that and and subscribe to the philosophy last close and first to be open.”