Our students need to return to normal this September; NO Quadmester/Cohorts this fall

BY PAUL JUNOR

The Ontario Ministry of Education in its directives to school boards released in May, 2021 has instructed them to consider quadmesters and cohorts for the fall of 2021.

These specific directives apply to high school students who will have to take two classes per quad and split their time between virtual and in-person learning.

There has been criticism levelled by diverse education stakeholders at the quadmester model and adoption of cohorts. This prompted Joanne Pearson to petition the Ministry of Education, Stephen Leece, Ontario Minister of Education, Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario and Yael Ginsler, Assistant Deputy Minister of Education. The petition is titled, “No Quadmester/Cohorts this fall. Kids need a return to normal this September.”

As of Tuesday, June 23^rd there were 17,172 signatures with a goal of 25,000 signatures. The petition posed a very important question, “Why are we taking away our kids’ right to be normal?” This question is crucial to the reopening plans that the Ontario Ministry of Education intends for school boards. The petition notes, ”We are in a completely different situation than last school year as teachers and students will be vaccinated. Once again. Students are being asked to sacrifice by not being able to engage in social relationships at school, sports or clubs and have to go to the same classes all day everyday for a week. We have taken away their lockers and cafeterias and libraries and put directional tape on the ground for them to follow. We are asking too much of our kids. You need to reconsider.”

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) initially indicated that it would be adopting the quadmester model based on the Ministry of Education’s directions, but later retracted after opposition. A letter released notes, “Following that message, we heard from many members of the community, staff, students and families that the quadmester model was not an ideal learning model and we committed to continuing to explore ways to best meet the needs of both students and staff at this time when we are still making adjustments due to the pandemic.”

 The TDSB indicated that due to increased level of vaccinations of its education workers and pupils, and reductions in the overall number of cases of COVID-19 it has adopted a modified semester model for its high school students. The Board states,

“In this model, students will take four courses, two each during alternating weeks. In accordance with Ministry instructions that all in-person learning be full day, they will continue to be cohorted but will now be part of four cohorts (one for each class) and class sizes will return to the regular class sizes (dependent on grade, level and subject) as per the Workload Accord. In-person students will be full-time in person while virtual students will be online full-time. The modified semester offers more face-to-face time between students and teachers, encouraging an opportunity to build relationships and support an increased sense of belonging in class. It also offers a slower pace by learning over a longer period of time than the quadmester model.”

The Peel District School Board (PDSB) has accepted the quadmester/cohort model and called it “community learning,” while the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) indicated that it will okay remote/cohort for the new school year.