Regina teachers moving from the classroom to online

Staff changes are coming to nearly two dozen public schools in Regina starting Monday.

More than 25 teachers will be reassigned to teach online classes. As a result, there will be some shuffling of students as well.

Adam Hicks, the vice-chair of Regina Public Schools, said many more students opted in for online learning than the board expected.

About 2,200 students took the online option, which the board calls “eSchool Learning.” That’s approximately 10 per cent of all kids in the division.

Hicks explained if the board had not made the change, eSchool teachers would have had to deal with massive class sizes of up to 67 students.

“That is unfair to those teachers, and makes it very difficult for them to have any type of meaningful relationship with their students,” he said.

While COVID-19 has raised the number of students taking the online option by a significant margin, moving teachers around like this is actually a regular process.

“Every year there are adjustments because students don’t enrol until school starts or parents forget to enrol their kids,” Hicks explained. “But this year, it was more difficult and more sensitive, obviously. We tried to do it as quickly as we could.”

Hiring all new teachers for eSchool wasn’t financially feasible.

“When we look at … how much money it would take to fully fund online learning without touching the classrooms, we just don’t have the funds. It’s millions and millions of dollars that we just don’t have the budget for at this time,” he said.

As for whether moving students between groups is a major health concern, Hicks doesn’t believe so.

“Our No. 1 strategy around safety for children is ensuring they stay in their cohorts and don’t mix with others throughout the school day,” he said. “That’s where some of those concerns are being raised, but we’ve been working and consulting with public health to ensure those changes are done safely and controlled.

“(The health authority) doesn’t have any undue concerns at this time.”

Class sizes in school are planned to average around 23 students per teacher. On a typical year, that average would be approximately 24.5.

Teachers will be moved online from 23 different schools: Albert, Arcola, Judge Bryant, Ruth M. Buck, Centennial, Connaught, Coronation Park, Dr. L.M. Hanna, Harbour Landing, W.S. Hawrylak, Wilfred Hunt, Imperial, Henry Janzen, Kitchener, McLurg, Marion McVeety, Elsie Mironuck, Dr. A.E. Perry, Rosemont, Seven Stones, Thomson and Wilfrid Walker.

Political response

The provincial NDP took the opportunity of the announcement to criticize Education Minister Gord Wyant and how the government has dealt with reopening schools.

Education Critic Carla Beck believes class sizes after the change are unacceptable.

“Premier Scott Moe and Gord Wyant had six months to plan and failed,” Beck said in a media release. “They’ve taken no responsibility, downloaded all responsibility to school divisions and haven’t provided any of the funding necessary to address the many issues parents and students are facing.

“The result is predictable: Chaos and bad decisions that could have been avoided if this government had done its job. They owe Saskatchewan families an immediate apology.”

She and her party are calling on the government to immediately reduce class sizes across the province.

“What we have here is a situation where children have been told for the last six months how important it is to maintain your bubble and to keep cohorts small. Now, they’re being told they will be part of a new cohort,” she said in a subsequent interview.

Based on conversations with parents, she believes the school board’s move is causing worries for students and their parents, in relation to both COVID-19 and teaching.

“(Kids) have made a good connection with their teacher … Now, they’re being told they have a whole new cohort of children,” she said.

Beck believes the key to fixing the issue is to spend more money to reduce class sizes.

“One of the best ways we can deal with some of the confusion and some of the anxiety in classrooms … is to be clear about funding and to have that funding flow without restriction to school boards,” she said.

Wyant believes Beck is misguided in her criticism.

“We certainly have ongoing discussions with the chief medical health officer to make sure that the number of children in classes isn’t impinging on health and we’re very satisfied with the direction we’ve received from public health,” Wyant said.

He believes the decision to move those teachers online is in the interest of fairness.

“As long as we continue to work with the school divisions, we are going to meet the challenge of ensuring that those children (in online classes) are provided with the same educational opportunities as children who are returning to class,” he said.

He responded to Beck’s critique by defending how back-to-school has rolled out so far.

“I discount the criticism,” Wyant said. “Children in the classroom are safe. They’re receiving the educational opportunities that they deserve.”