Schools within the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board will close starting Monday if a last minute deal isn’t reached between the province and education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Members in the public board include custodial staff, as well as maintenance and trade staff.
Board officials say the safety of students is the top priority and the arrival of winter weather coupled with ongoing staffing challenges were both factors in the decision to close schools to students at this time.
Families should make alternate arrangements for their children beginning Monday, November 21 until further notice.
The deadline to reach a deal is 4:00 Sunday.
Director of Education Christy Radbourne delivered the information you need to know this morning:
Switching to Virtual Learning
Students in grades 4-12 will be taking their devices home with them at the end of the day today. Families of students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 who require a school provided device or families who need to make special arrangements to pick up a device for their child should watch for information directly from their child’s school.
Monday, November 21 will be asynchronous learning meaning there will not be live online classes. Virtual learning activities can be found at this link – https://www.ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home. Synchronous learning, meaning learning online with their teachers will begin on Tuesday, November 22.
Support for Internet at Home
Schools will be gathering information from families and Wifi hotspots are being prepped for those families who do not have access to the internet at home. Should your family require a wifi hotspot, please ensure you let your child’s school know. We will do all we can to get hotspots ready as quickly as possible as we know these are essential for students who do not have internet to participate in virtual learning. When the hotspots are ready, your child’s school will notify you directly and make arrangements for you to pick them up.
Chromebook Resources
The following resources for remote learning are available to support families:
- Introduction to Chromebooks (video) – https://www.wevideo.com/view/1708312934
- How to connect your Chromebook to home WiFi (video) – https://www.wevideo.com/view/1846864388
- Overview of Google Classroom for Families with Younger Students (video) – https://www.wevideo.com/view/1860147270
- KPDSB Chromebook Support (website) – https://sites.google.com/k12.kpdsb.ca/kpdsbdevicehelp/home
Mental Health Support and Resources
Families can access our board website by clicking here to find ways to connect to mental health resources and supports.
In the event families need support in accessing mental health services for students who are experiencing or could be expected to experience mental health challenges during this time please email us at mentalhealthsupports@kpdsb.ca or email FIREFLY at intake@fireflynw.ca or call 1-833-696-5437. Should you or your child be in crisis and need immediate support, please click here for outreach numbers.
NAN HOPE, Nishnawbe Aski Mental Health and Addictions Support Access Program is also available 24/7, for any Indigenous families or youth from any of the 49 NAN First Nations. The service can be accessed by calling 1-844-NAN-HOPE. Families can also access the program by clicking here.
In addition, students and families can access further mental health resources, including Kids Help Phone, which offers 24/7 counselling and referral services across the province. To use this free resource, youth can call 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868. School Mental Health Ontario also has a number of great resources for students, parents and families on their website at www.smho-smso.ca
School Bus Transportation
Individual school boards are impacted by CUPE job action differently depending on if they have CUPE staff at their Boards and which employee groups they represent. School buses will be running for different school boards. As always, KPDSB students cannot use school bus transportation for non-school purposes.
