Dear Parents,

As a trustee and parent of children in the TDSB, I have been following the transition to emergency remote learning closely. In recent weeks, I have had countless discussions with students, teachers, administrators, our senior team (superintendents, associate directors and director), and other trustees about their experiences. I have also heard from a lot of parents -- by phone, by email and on social media. These conversations have helped to inform my perspective and led me to bring forward two emergency motions last week at the Program and School Services Committee on May 6. These motions passed unanimously at committee, and went on to be unanimously approved this past Tuesday evening, May 12, by the entire board of the TDSB.

The first motion deals with the importance of providing interactive learning and focusses on the importance of connections between students and teachers during the Covid crisis. The motion asks Director John Malloy to use feedback from parents and students, such as that received in response to the "Thought Exchange" sent out by the TDSB recently, and to continue his work with employee groups to arrive at and implement best practices for "consistent, interactive, remote learning." 

It is important to recognize that online learning can never re-create or replace the classroom experience and that it does raise issues around privacy concerns. But what I was hearing from parents was that while some classes were participating in Google "meets" and virtual teacher-led learning (either taped or live), many were not. Parents voiced concerns that their children missed seeing their friends and teachers, and were not feeling engaged in their classes in ways they saw or heard about happening in other classrooms. My aim with this motion was to try to find a way to help solve the lack of face to face interaction in a consistent way across our board. Our goal must be the same as it has always been -- to provide our students with a meaningful education, even under what are now less than ideal circumstances. It is important children not be left behind because the barriers seem insurmountable or too difficult to break down. We must all put our head's together to find practical and creative solutions and this motion provides that direction. 

• funding for any gaps created in literacy and numeracy;
• teacher training;  
• support for children with special needs who may have been without respite care, physiotherapy and occupational therapy during this period;
• increased supports for special education;
• additional student success teachers to help students with the transition from elementary to high school ; 
• funding technology to achieve a student/device ratio of 1:1 without requiring boards to reallocate funding to purchase such technology. This kind of support and investment is crucial if we are to expect teachers and students to be able to move to a remote environment confidently, quickly, nimbly and effectively.