Dear Neighbour,
Today's big announcement is that Ontario’s Emergency Declaration has been extended until April 14, 2020, in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. A new measure effective immediately is that all outdoor recreational amenities, such as sports fields, playgrounds, off-leash dog parks, beaches are closed. You can find the full list here.
There are also a number of education-related announcements, which I have compiled below. The main one is that public schools will remain closed to teachers until Friday, May 1, 2020, and to students until Monday, May 4, 2020. As these dates come closer, this decision will be re-evaluated based on public health advice. The closure may be extended if necessary.
On the education front, we are urging action on three issues yet to be addressed by the Minister of Education:
- Final grades — Grade 12 students need answers about how their final grade will be determined and what impact that will have on their post-secondary plans.
- Special needs support — Parents need extra supports to get special needs students through the next few weeks at home.
- Access to internet-connected devices — Work hand-in-hand with school boards to provide access to computers at home especially to those families facing economic challenges, and supports for students who don’t have access to a decent internet connection at home (this is particularly important for many northern and rural communities).
As well, I want to share education resources – both the official ones from the provincial government and unofficial ones shared by community members. Please find them below.
Finally, I want to bring your attention to an important issue highlighted today by the Public Health Agency of Canada. There is a lot of misinformation, especially on social media. Please only consult trustworthy sources for information about the coronavirus.
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Wash your hands. Stay home (except if you must work). Be kind. We are all in this together.
Warmly,
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Bhutila Karpoche,
MPP for Parkdale—High Park
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- Public schools will remain closed to teachers until Friday, May 1, 2020, and to students until Monday, May 4, 2020. As these dates come closer, this decision will be re-evaluated based on public health advice. The closure may be extended if necessary.
- In the second phase of Learn At Home, the province is working together with the education community on a number of fronts including teacher-led learning by grade groupings as follows:
- Kindergarten to Grade 3: five hours of work per student/week (focus on literacy and math)
- Grades 4 to 6: five hours of work per student/week (focus on literacy, math, science, social studies)
- Grades 7 to 8: 10 hours of work per student/week (focus on math, literacy, science, social studies)
- Grades 9 to 12: three hours of work per course per week for semestered students; 1.5 hours of work per course per week for non-semestered students (focus on achieving credits/completion/ graduation).
- You can find more details about this second phase here.
- Select emergency child-care centres are now open for health care and frontline workers to send their children to while they are at work. Find out if you are eligible to send your child to emergency child care here.
- The government has announced that no student will have their graduation compromised by COVID-19 and the Ministry of Education will work together with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to ensure that there will be no barriers to accessing post-secondary education. Details to come soon.
- Payments for Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) loans are now officially temporarily deferred. Online supports are to be provided for students, including online year-end exams. In addition, funds are to be made available to colleges and universities to help them deal with the impact of COVID19.
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Official resources
- Learn at Home is updated on a regular basis to provide new and compelling content throughout this period. Recent updates include supplemental STEM learning resources created by third-parties and a parent resource that is focused on reading and writing.
- TVO Kids offers educational programming throughout the day for school-aged children.
- TFO also offers a range of educational programming in French throughout the day for school-aged children.
- Mathify provides real-time homework help led by OCT certified educators for students between Grades 6-10, six days a week, including weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Eurêka! provides online learning support in French to students in Grades 1-12 with their school work and learning.
Unofficial resources (received by email, not an endorsement!)
Valid until April 5th:
Login: linkearth
Password: lovetoread
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Reminder: For the most up-to-date information and contact information for Toronto Public Health, Ontario Ministry of Health, and the Public Health Agency of Canada please visit my website here.
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