OTTAWA -- The number of students who are planning to attend school from home this fall in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is more than double what the board was expecting.
OCDSB Director of Education Camille Williams-Taylor had told CTV Morning Live on Aug. 10 that the board was expecting about 10 per cent of families to enroll their children in remote learning. The rest would be coming back to school.
However, in an email to families on Monday, Williams-Taylor said more than a quarter of elementary students and one fifth of secondary students will start the new school year online.
"We had a 91% response rate, which breaks down as follows:
46,018 elementary student attendance confirmations, 26.9% of whom have opted for remote learning
21,701 secondary student attendance confirmations, 21.5% of whom have opted for remote learning
This information will be used to plan for staffing, classes, and school resources for both in person and remote learning," Williams-Taylor said.
She said the OCDSB would be sending out another letter later this week with more details about how families can change from remote to in person learning, or vice-versa, and how the remaining nine per cent of families who had not submitted their intentions by the Sunday deadline can do so.
The OCDSB is in the process of changing some of its back-to-school plans at the secondary level, after families were upset to learn that high school students would only be in class for 25 per cent of their school day, instead of 50 per cent as many had expected.
OCDSB Trustee Sandra Schwartz told Newstalk 580 CFRA's "The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll" that staff found they couldn't do that safely and had to "turn on a dime" after the province's updated guidelines were issued on Thursday.
More information about the OCDSB's plan is expected by mid-week.
