School opening pushed back to Sept. 14

The opening of elementary schools in Thames Valley District School Board has been pushed back by almost a week to Monday, Sept. 14, instead of Tuesday, Sept. 8.

(London District Catholic School Board is expected to do the same.)

Even then, elementary pupils won’t all return on that day. Instead, half the pupils will attend the Monday and Tuesday of that week, and the other half Wednesday and Thursday, to allow them time to adjust to new procedures in relatively small groups. All pupils will resume classes on Friday, Sept. 18.

That’s being done to accommodate a directive from the Ontario Ministry of Education issued Friday, Aug. 21, that back-to-school plans had to be amended to reduce the contacts all children attending in schools had to other children and staff, TVDSB trustees were told in a special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

At the secondary level, students, instead of studying two courses over 10 weeks, split between morning and afternoon classes, would study the same course for four hours each day over five weeks.

Look for more details in the Sept. 2 edition of The Aylmer Express.