‘Please try again’ was not exactly what anxious parents wanted to hear when attempting to join the York Catholic District School Board’s Aug. 10 online meeting where its re-entry plan for the 2020-2021 school year was to be unveiled.
The board posted an apology on social media about an hour after the meeting started, and to which few parents were able to successfully log on, that explained technical glitches had derailed the special board meeting and that it would be rescheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
“Thank you to everyone who is trying to watch the YCDSB Special Board Meeting! We are having technical problems with our website due to the overwhelming interest,” board officials said in a social media statement at 8:07 p.m. Monday.
It appears all parents and guardians invited to the meeting were given the same username and password, causing the meeting link to crash.
Parent Gregory Astill replied to the board’s apology on Twitter, saying, “So disappointed. First-time parent with lots of angst about the upcoming school year and tonight was an ultimate failure in convincing me you’re ready for the new school year”.
Many other parents expressed frustration that so far they have seen little information from the board about what the school day will look like for students whether they attend in-person or plan to learn remotely online from home.
Once the board publicly releases its reopening plan, parents will be required to complete a survey for each child in the system to let officials know if the child will return to class in person or if they will learn at home.
A parent who was able to join the Aug. 10 meeting posted a copy of the Catholic board's school re-opening plan at the Families for Safe Schools in York Region Facebook page. You can view the plan as a Google document here.
Meanwhile, the York Region District School Board has posted its reopening plan on its website. Parents are asked to fill out a reopening registration form by Aug. 14 to let the board know if their child will be attending school or remaining at home for online remote learning.
You can view the public board's 46-page return to school fall 2020 plan here.
A late-July online survey conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies found that Ontario parents were divided on sending their children back to school in the fall, with just 54 per cent of respondents saying they would be sending their children to school.
