June 26, 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As you may already be aware, on June 19, 2020 the Minister of Education announced Ontario’s approach for the reopening of publicly funded schools for the 2020-2021 school year. To read the details of the announcement, please visit the Ontario.ca website.
Please see the information below to learn more about what this decision means for the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board (NPSC). We will continue to share information with you as we learn more about how this will impact us locally and going forward.
School Structure
The Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board continues to work with local health authorities and our partners in education across the province to maintain the health and safety of our students and staff. In accordance with the announcement by the Minister on June 19, this will involve planning for three delivery models for instruction in the coming school year:
- A full return to conventional, regular classroom instruction with health & safety protocols;
- A continuation of distance learning, including the use of live, synchronous online instruction; and
- An adapted delivery model that enables students to return to class with blended virtual learning, that includes health and safety protocols and will limit the maximum number of students to 15 per class.
The Ministry acknowledges that school boards may need to adopt one or more of these forms of delivery throughout the school year, and to be able to move between these forms of delivery depending on recommendations from public health at that time. At the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board, we will be working with community partners to plan for each of those scenarios. In early August, we expect a determination to be made by the Ministry of Education on the learning model deemed to be the most appropriate for September and we will communicate this to our parents.
Stay Connected!
As we plan for the future, we want to learn how we can continue to serve the needs of our students and their families. In the coming weeks, we will reach out to parents using a survey in order to assist us in planning for September and to help us understand how we can best support our school communities going forward.
Families are also encouraged to continue to visit the Board website and our Facebook (/NPSCDSB), Twitter (@npsc_schools) and Instagram (@npsc_schools) pages for the most recent information and updates from the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board. We will continue to communicate with you as more detailed information becomes available.
As this most unique 2019-2020 school year comes to an end, all of us at NPSC extend our heartfelt appreciation to all of our parents, caregivers, staff, students, Board of Trustees, and community partners. The success of our students is sustained by a solid foundation of faith and a strong sense of community that surrounds them. We thank you for being our valued partners in Catholic education and we are grateful for your contributions and support over this past school year. May God bless all of you and your families, and may you enjoy a safe and healthy summer, filled with much-deserved time to rest and recharge.
Please continue to keep in touch, stay safe and be well!
Sincerely,
Anna Marie Bitonti
Director of Education