TORONTO — The head of Ontario’s trustees association says school boards will have no choice but to combine and collapse some classrooms as school starts this fall.
Cathy Abraham, who is president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, says the decisions will vary at different boards, and possibly happen on a school-to-school basis.
She says combined classes will occur despite there being fewer children in schools as some parents opt to keep their children at home for online learning because of COVID-19.
Abraham says boards must adhere to funding agreements struck with the Ontario government which means class sizes will remain the same despite the student opt outs.
That may mean classes are collapsed, or split classes created, to reach the right government-approved levels in schools.
Premier Doug Ford said yesterday that he was not aware of boards collapsing classes, but acknowledged it could be occurring.
Meanwhile, Ontario is reporting 112 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death related to the coronavirus.
There were also 92 cases newly marked as resolved in today’s report.
The total number of cases now stands at 42,421, which includes 2,812 deaths and 38,369 cases marked as resolved.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says 27 of the province’s 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer new cases.
She says 18 health units are reporting no new cases today.
The province was able to complete 23,545 tests over the previous day.
This article by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2020.
The Canadian Press
