By Sue Tiffin
Undecided parents still choosing between back-to-school options were givenunexpected extra time to consider future plans when the TrilliumLakelands District School Board extended the deadline for schoolre-registration last week after the original deadline had passed.
The original deadline of Aug. 13 had been announced through communicationto parents from the board on Aug. 7 after the Ford government outlined a school reopening plan on July 30 and the TLDSB board of trustees metvirtually on Aug. 4 to take next steps toward planning for Septemberschool after what will be almost six months of closure due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. On Aug. 13 at around 7 p.m. parents received newcommunication extending the re-registration date to end of day Aug. 18.
“As of mid-way through last week we had over 8000re-registrations so nearly half of all students” said Sinead FeganTLDSB communications officer this week. “However the more studentsregistered the better our planning will go and so we’ve provided anadditional few days for parents to respond.”
School re-registrationin which parents decide whether their students will return to in-classlearning enrol in online learning or pursue a private option instead is a requirement by school boards to ensure accurate numbers for planningpurposes.
Fegan said that as of just prior to the re-registrationdeadline approximately 10 to 15 per cent of families throughout theTLDSB region were looking to opt out of in-school learning.
“Allparents/guardians (and students over the age of 18) must re-registereach child for school including those newly registered at a TLDSBschool” reads the TLDSB website. “We will not be able to makedeterminations on classroom make up schedules or bus routes until weknow who is coming to school in September and who will be staying athome for remote learning.”
Parents who had previously registeredprior to the extension but wanted to change their decision before thenew deadline were given the option to do so however after Mondaychanges to registration decisions could not be made.
“Once yourchoice has been made this will remain the program for your child untillate October” reads the TLDSB website. “We cannot make changes prior to this because any change means alterations to classroom cohorts and tobussing route schedules. This decision has been made in the bestinterest of safety of our students and our staff.”
Furtherinformation regarding return to school updates from the TLDSB including an Aug. 11 letter from new director of education Wes Hahn is availablehere: http://www.tldsb.ca/
