December 28, 2020
Remote Learning Schedules for January 2021
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As communicated on December 21, 2020, the Ministry of Education has
mandated that in conjunction with the province-wide shut down, all
schools in the province will be closed to students from January 4-8,
2021. Buses will not be running during this time. Students and staff
will be engaged in remote learning from home during the closures.
Currently, elementary schools are scheduled to re-open for face-to-face
learning on January 11, 2021 and secondary schools are scheduled to
resume in person instruction on January 25, 2021.
The following information is being provided to families to outline basic
system-wide expectations during the remote learning period. More school
specific information will be forthcoming once school resumes on January
4, 2021.
SCHEDULES FOR LEARNING
Virtual Schools – Elementary and Secondary
For students previously enrolled in virtual learning (elementary or
secondary) online instruction will resume on January 4, 2021 according
to the previously established schedule.
Elementary Schools (Kindergarten – Grade 8)
January 4, 2021 – Afternoon
* Parents/Guardians can expect that educators will connect with their
students in the afternoon using board approved platforms
· Schedules for the week, assignments and information will be
sent from the school/educator to each student/family via Edsby and/or
board email
· Real-time learning will be done through Microsoft Teams, Zoom
or Brightspace
January 5-8, 2021
* Educators will post work online every day for those students who
cannot connect in real time
· At the beginning of the week, the teacher will post the
online learning schedule for each day (including French and the subjects
taught by itinerant teachers) and provide any
necessary links for their Zoom/Microsoft Teams sessions
· Instruction will generally follow the regular school schedule
online (i.e., start and end times, lunch etc.)
· During some of the time, educators will conduct lessons
online, at other times they will be available to answer questions and
provide feedback
General Timelines:
Kindergarten students should be able to access up to 180 minutes of
learning each day.
Students in Grades 1-8 should be able to access up to 225 minutes of
learning each day.
Secondary Schools (Grades 9-12)
Beginning January 4, 2021 and continuing until Secondary schools reopen
on January 25, 2021 students in Grades 9-12 will continue to follow the
same schedule that was in place prior to the Christmas Weekly Schedule
Break with the following important exceptions:
1. All students will be expected to engage in online learning in the
morning (Blocks 1 and 2) every day.
2. Lunch break will be 60 minutes.
3. NOTE: Students attending All Saints and Msgr. John Pereyma Catholic
Secondary Schools will continue to follow their current schedule and
start times of 8:50 a.m. for All Saints and
9:00 a.m. for Msgr. John Pereyma as noted on their schools’
websites.
Daily Schedule for all Secondary Schools (except All Saint and Msgr.
Pereyma)
10:00 – 11:15 Block 1
11:15 – 12:30 Block 2
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 Block 3
2:45 – 4:00 Block 4 – office hours
Weekly Schedule for all students in grades 9-12
January 4-8: Block 1 & 2 – Course 4/Block 3 & 4 – Course 3
January 11-15: Block 1 & 2 – Course 3/Block 3 & 4 – Course 4
January 18 – 20 Block 1 & 2 – Course 4/Block 3 & 4 – Course 3
January 21 – 22 Block 1 & 2 – Course 3/Block 3 & 4 – Course 4
*The modification to the January 18-22, 2021 schedule has been made to
balance the number of minutes of instruction for each course.
STUDENTS WITH EXCEPTIONAL SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS
Program Support Teachers will connect with the parents/guardians of our
students with exceptional education needs beginning on January 4, 2021
in order to discuss programming needs and to put the necessary
accommodations in place. Where required and appropriate, secondary
students with the highest special needs who have been attending on a
daily, extended schedule will be provided with the opportunity to attend
school in-person starting on January 11, 2021.
ATTENDANCE
During the period of remote learning, it is requested that
parents/guardians continue to report absences using our board’s Safe
Arrival program.
While the instructional minutes listed above for Elementary students
(Kindergarten – Grade 8) must be provided, it is understood that during
the week of January 4-8, 2021, not all students may be able to be online
for the full 180/225mins.
* If a student connects any time during the day they should be marked
as present.
* If a parent/guardian indicates that the student will not be
connecting synchronously but will be doing the work at home, they will
also be marked as present.
Secondary students are expected to connect online during each block in
order to be marked as present.
TECHNOLOGY
It is understood that for families with multiple school age children,
simultaneous online learning may be difficult if there are a limited
number of devices in the household. For students in Kindergarten – Grade
8, educators will ensure that daily work is posted so that if a student
cannot connect online at a specific time, they will still be able to
access learning materials and assignments.
Where access to technology is a barrier, families should contact the
school for support.
For technical support on Board issued devices or applications such as
Edsby, D2L/Brightspace, Office 365, etc., please
email?TechnologySupport@dcdsb.
experiencing such as password reset. Please include in the email, the
student name, student User ID, date of birth, school name, grade and
phone number where we can contact you.
We recognize that these are challenging times for everyone and thank you
in advance for your ongoing efforts to work in collaboration with school
staff to support continued learning for our students.
May you continue to stay safe at home during this period of provincial
shutdown and may God’s blessings be with all of us as we move with hope
and love into a New Year.
Yours in Faith,
Tracy Barill,
Director of Education
