Dear Parents,

I want to thank all the parents and constituents who have reached out to me recently. I know we are in unusual times and the uncertainty of so many things can be stressful and worrisome to many of you. Like the rest of our city and country, I am practicing social distancing. But I want you to know I am in daily contact with our senior leadership team at the TDSB. I am relaying your questions and asking my own, and I am updated on their contingency planning progress on a regular basis. Things are moving very quickly, and we are all doing our best to keep up!

Many of you have asked about what will happen next week, once the regular March Break is over. Our senior team has assured us that the Ministry of Education is working on plans and taking the lead to support a province-wide strategy for the continuation of learning during the two-week closure period. The Ministry expects to launch a website this week with a single point of access to online learning opportunities. We will communicate this website with parents when it is available. In addition, the Ministry is working with Ontario’s school boards to help assess student access to learning in terms of information technology and support, on a province-wide basis, the continuation of learning between teachers and students.

School boards are also assessing the resources they can bring to support student learning. At the TDSB staff is working to make learning resources available to students during the two-week school closure period. We will keep parents updated as all this information becomes available.

We know these are very challenging times for students and families and we are committed to working with the Ministry of Education to support you as we deal with this unprecedented interruption to student learning.

I have been tweeting out resources for online educational fun and learning as I come across them this week and in the weeks to come. I encourage you to follow me on Twitter @rchernoslin and on Facebook on my page @TrusteeChernosLin to stay up to date. Feel free to share any ones you come across too so we can keep our ward engaged yet still practicing social distancing.

In the coming days, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Wishing all of you a healthy and safe March Break, and to those of you who are on the front lines -- working in grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, emergency response, and hospitals -- a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Yours truly,

Rachel

Rachel Chernos Lin
Ward 11 Trustee, Toronto District School Board