LONDON, ONT. -- Tracy Leckie is being cautiously optimistic as students return to class in a month’s time. The chair of the Masonville Public School's school council says there are plenty of positives after the province announced the guidelines for the fall return.
She thinks giving parents the choice to hold back their children with remote learning being made available is one of them.
“Parents have the option, they can opt out if they want as long as what they are providing at a distance is robust,” said Leckie.
She is also happy to see everyone from Grade 4 and up wearing face coverings, “I like that staff are going to be wearing masks as well.”
However she does have concerns, saying, “Smaller class sizes would have been nice, two metres of distancing would have been nice."
She also worries about the children who are in school portables.
“Those are kids that are in a small space in a portable with perhaps not as high a quality of ventilation,” said Leckie. “Also they have no sink and those are kids that are going to have to go into the school to use the bathroom, so is there going to be any additional support there?”
However, she is telling staff, students and parents to take a wait-and-see attitude come September.
“We're going to have to continue to make our decisions based on what's going on in the community and it's going to require a great deal of flexibility from everybody.”
