French catholic school board announces changes to back-to-school dates

OTTAWA -- The first day of school for some students in Ottawa's French catholic school board has changed.

In a note to families sent Friday, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) says when your child returns to class will depend on their school, and grade and whether they're in class or learning online.

Students in Kindergarten to Grade 8, who are returning to in-person classes, will begin school on Sept. 3.

Students in Grades 9 to 12 will return to in person classes on Sept. 8, except for those in the following schools:

• École Ange-Gabriel (Brockville)
• École Marie-Rivier (Kingston)
• Académie Notre-Dame (Kemptville)
• Centre scolaire Jeanne-Lajoie (Pembroke)

Grade 9-12 students in these schools will return to class on Sept. 3.

Two CECCE schools, Bernard-Grandmaître and Jonathan-Pitre, began classes on Aug. 19.

• RELATED: An early look at back-to-school in the COVID age as two French Catholic schools return

VIRTUAL LEARNING

The CECCE says remote learning through their Académie d'apprentissage virtuel (AAV) for Kindergarten to Grade 8 students will begin on Sept. 8.

Students in Grades 9 to 12, who are learning through the Consortium d’apprentissage virtuel de langue française de l’Ontario (CAVLFO) will begin online learning on Sept. 8 as well.

Nearly 3,400 CECCE students will begin their school year online, the board says.

PERSONALIZED TEACHING SCHOOLS

For students at École Lamoureux, École Édouard-Bond and École La Source, classes will begin in-person on Sept. 3 and remote learning through the Centre d'enseignement personnalisé virtuel (CEPV) will begin Sept. 8

WHY?

"This decision was made after careful consideration and follows an announcement from the Ontario Ministry of Education (EDU), which offers flexibility to school boards as to when to start school, Director of Education Réjean Sirois said in the French letter. "It should also be noted that the decision to maintain the September 3 date for the start of the school year for Brockville, Kingston, Kemptville and Pembroke high schools was taken after consulting the principals of these schools and obtaining their confirmation that they were ready to welcome the students on the scheduled date."

The delay to the other start dates is due to staffing and coordinating in-class and online learning, Sirois said.

"The main issues are related to the staffing of the teaching staff as well as to the confirmation of the students in the various modes of learning which require a reorganization to be able to put in place the services required in order to meet the demand," the note explained. "In addition, given that distance education for students in Grades 9 to 12 will be delivered by the CAVLFO, it was important to align and adapt to different realities, since CAVLFO serves all of the province's French-language school boards and some boards start their school year later."

Sirois says the board is confident the in-person start date of Sept. 3 for elementary school students is "realistic" and schools will be ready.

"The administration maintains the date of Thursday, September 3 for the start of the school year for elementary students (face-to-face) because it is confident that this is a realistic date and that the schools will be ready to welcome the students," Sirois said.