LONDON, ONT. -- Parents with students in the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) have until Aug. 18 to decide if their kids will return to class or stay home for remote learning.

Many parents at this time are unsure as to their best course of action.

"To be honest, I’m on the fence. I feel like there is going to be a lot of parents that feel like myself," says parent Denise Raymond-Pringle.

"They are not sure, and come the 18th I still might not be sure. So do I register, and say, 'Yes I’m going to send my child to school.' And then decide later, and then how many withdrawals are we going to have?”

Parents can make their selection on the Parent Portal and separate entries must be done for each student.

“We just recently launched our return to school confirmation because we do need to determine which families will be returning to school and which families will be selecting remote learning to begin the school year,” says TVDSB Associate Director Riley Culhane.

He says there will be opportunities for "synchronism learning with the educators," for example.

"There will be large group and small group, and individual instruction as well throughout the instructional day. It will be a complete instructional day, or 300 minutes. So that full educational experience will be offered to our students and families regardless of which model they select for the fall."

Culhane says comprehensive reports will be provided next week to the community which "will hopefully answer some additional questions.”

Jody Krah, a mother of five, wonders if parents can change their minds, once school starts.

“I want to know that if they decided to stay home, because it might be too much mentally as well - wearing masks every day, everything being so different. I want to know that they can come back home for the time being and maybe go back after Christmas," she says.

"Is it a set thing? Do we have to stay home? Do they have choices? That is my biggest question, 'Do we have choices?'"

On July 30, the Ministry of Education announced that all elementary students will be returning to class five days a week with special measures in place.

The government has faced criticism for the plan since the announcement, specifically over class sizes.

Parents who choose remote learning will be asked additional questions about access to the internet and to technology devices.

Parents should expect to be placed on waiting lists if they choose a different option later in the year.