MONTREAL --
OUR LATEST ON THIS STORY: Hybrid classes not an option for Quebec school boards: education minister
As high school in Quebec reopens for full-time, in-person learning this week, students are speaking out against the new measures, while some administrators have opted not to bring students back for now.
Six out of nine high schools in the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board in the greater Montreal area will not invite students full time, in favour of maintaining a hybrid system of online classes and in-person learning.
“We're looking forward to having all our students physically back at school, but again, council's priority is the safety and wellbeing of staff and students," said Paolo Galati, chairperson of the board.
The board's council of commissioners is meeting Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
Last week, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) said there simply wasn’t enough time to prepare their schools to accept all students. Instead, only Secondary 3 students were allowed to return this week.
The EMSB said more details will be released next week.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault first announced that high school students would return to class full time earlier in March in order to protect their mental health, and to provide better education than what they might have access to at home.
At the time, public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda said that reopening schools is always "a risk," but that the risk is controllable.
STUDENTS AND STAFF REACT
Meanwhile, students at Westmount High School have spoken out against their return, wearing signs duct taped to their clothing.
Westmount High student Brendan Schwartz mobilized fellow students to wear signs on their clothing criticizing the Quebec government's decision to bring high schoolers back to class full time on March 30, 2021. (Billy Shields, CTV News)
“If we have a single case, we're going to have to shut down the whole grade,” said Robert Green, a teacher at Westmount High. He says that because the school has been doing hybrid learning all year -- a mix of online and in person classes -- senior students haven't been organized into bubbles.
“That could result in more days of missed school than we would have had otherwise.”
‘THEY HAVE TO EXPLAIN’: LAWMAKERS
Lawmakers have also criticized the newly relaxed rules, with provincial opposition members calling on the Legault government to provide more explanation for why they’ve sent kids back to school.
"First, [the Legault government needs] to be transparent and to explain why they think the risk is low to bring back all the secondary students to high school,” said Parti Quebecois education critic Veronique Hivon on Tuesday.
“They have to explain because teachers and school boards don't understand.”
On the same day that high school students returned to full time class, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube announced the province had entered a third wave.
Unlike the first and second waves, this one is expected to be defined by the rapid spread of variants through the province, which are expected to overtake the original version as early as next month.
Hundreds of variant cases have already been recorded in schools, with 245 known infections in the public and private systems.
As for coronavirus cases overall, there are 2,678 active infections among students and staff in the education system, accounting for 25 per cent of active outbreaks in the province.
-- With reporting from CTV News journalists Cindy Sherwin, Billy Shields, Joe Lofaro, and Selena Ross
