Local school boards are giving their two cents after the province’s announcement that it is encouraging schools to go ahead with the planning of celebrations of student achievement.
On Monday, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce issued a statement regarding the decision, which would allow school boards to proceed with celebrations subject to health and safety limitations.
In a press release, Lecce said students have worked incredibly hard this year – and the province recognizes that COVID-19 has forced some schools to cancel or delay important milestones – such as prom and graduation ceremonies.
“Although we are making great efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario, it may still be some time before schools and boards are able to offer the kinds of ceremonies and traditions in the same way they have in previous years,” Lecce said.
Lecce added that he has spoken directly to many graduating students and parents and their stories have moved him to act.
Even if ceremonies are delayed, he feels all students deserve a positive conclusion to their academic journeys.
“Despite this uncertainty, I am encouraging boards to reschedule these events based on input from local medical officers of health,” Lecce said. “In some cases, this might mean facilitating graduation ceremonies and proms during the summer or fall when it is safe to do so.”
In an interview with MyMuskokaNow, Manager of Communications for the Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board Paulene Stevenson said they appreciate the province’s direction on this matter.
“Obviously things are going to be somewhat limited in terms of what the rules are for gatherings. Certainly, it’s on our minds, we’re thinking about it a lot. We need to figure out if it’s the summer, the fall, do we do something now just to recognize the kids?”
Stevenson added that they are doing all they can to ensure appropriate recognition on a school-by-school basis.
“We’ll have at least some sort of minimum way to address this. Of course, every school has a little bit of autonomy and they handle things differently but we want to provide some board direction so that our schools aren’t kind of just hanging there by themselves. So, that’s what we are trying to work on now.”
Both boards will be consulting families of students in grades 8 and 12 to see what the best course of action is.
As for the Trillium Lakelands District School Board, according to a letter published by Director of Education Larry Hope earlier this month, this is a decision that TLDSB had anticipated.
“Given the precarious nature of large group gatherings, and our sense that we will not be in a position to facilitate large groups, we have had to make the very difficult decision to postpone all June graduations,” the letter read. “We have not taken this decision lightly as we know how important the opportunity to celebrate our graduates is for all of us.”
Hope noted they have asked TLDSB schools to work with their stakeholders to develop a plan to honour our students, and those plans will be developed over the coming weeks.
To read the full letter, head here.
