'We are no longer comfortable': How Canada's rising COVID-19 cases have some abandoning back-to-school plans

With the new school year beginning over the next few weeks in Canada, the recent rise in COVID-19 infections across the country has prompted many parents to reconsider whether to send their children for in-person at school this fall or keep them at home for online learning or home-schooling.

With daily new cases across Canada rising from a low of less than 300 in mid-July, to approximately 2,400 on Friday, CTVNews.ca asked Canadians whether they had recently changed their minds about their childrens’ schooling.

The responses were emailed to CTVNews.ca. Not all have been independently verified, though CTVNews.ca did contact several respondents for additional details.

The question of how parents plan to approach the school year is complicated by the fact that the availability and rules surrounding online learning vary across the provinces and by school board, as do the deadlines for choosing which stream parents want their children in this fall.

This means some parents have had to make their choice before parents in other jurisdictions, and in areas where online learning did not seem to be a viable option, some parents have elected to simply home-school their children.

Overall, the responses showed that, across the country, many parents share concerns about the recent rise in COVID-19 infections and have either recently reconsidered, or are now reconsidering whether to send their children back to school for in-person learning.

“A couple of months ago I was on the fence about sending my child to primary at a local school or home-school him. As the COVID cases started increasing across Canada and now in my province, we have decided he will be home-schooled this year,” Erin Macvicar of Sydney, N.S., a mother of four including a 5-year-old about to start primary school, emailed to CTVNews.ca.

For parents of young children, the decision is complicated by the fact that no vaccines are yet approved for children under 12.

While approximately 72 per cent of eligible Canadians are now fully vaccinated, according to the CTVNews.ca coronavirus vaccination tracker, some parents cited concerns about vaccination rates among teachers and other school personnel.

“With the way things are rapidly changing we are no longer comfortable sending our children back to the classroom this fall,” wrote Ashleigh Kannenberg Martin of Orangeville, Ont. “Prior to reconsidering a return, we would want to know what percentage of teachers and administrators are vaccinated in each facility.”

Kannenberg, who said she and her husband had been looking forward to sending their children back to in-person learning, also said she would like to see specific information on ventilation capabilities at schools.

“With what is unraveling in the U.S., we as parents feel that our best plan of action is to be more cautious than not,” she wrote.

WANTING A DO-OVER

Facing deadlines for choosing between online and in-person learning, some parents found themselves regretting decisions made earlier in the year.

“My school board requested in June that I made a decision, and I did decide to send my daughter back in person after a year of virtual school. Now I am struggling to switch her back to online given the fears of the fourth wave,” wrote Ahilia Singh Morales, whose anxiety is heightened by the fact that she works in a hospital emergency room.

A complicating factor for many has been different school boards’ varying deadlines for selecting in-person learning.

The Toronto District School Board, the country’s largest, had a deadline of Aug. 12, but other boards required parents to make their decisions much sooner.

“We had to let the school board know by April and we felt it was too soon to make a decision, so our children were automatically enrolled in physical school for their school board,” wrote Rachel Brethour-McMichael of Blenheim, Ont. Her daughters, aged 13 and 7, attend school in the Lambton-Kent District School Board, which imposed an April 21 deadline for choosing virtual learning.

Since then, they have attempted to switch to virtual learning, but have been told there is no room left, said Brethour-McMichael.

“My option now is to sit on a wait list, not knowing or being able to prepare my children for what type of schooling they’re taking in just a couple weeks,” she wrote.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL GUIDELINES

While the rising infection numbers were cited by the majority of respondents as a reason to reconsider keeping their children at home, some also mentioned dissatisfaction with provincial back-to-school guidelines.

Ellie Lo, a York Region mother of four, including two unvaccinated children going into Grades 3 and 5, said both the rising numbers and Ontario back-to school guidelines meant she was no longer comfortable sending her younger children back to class.

“Classrooms and buses could be at full capacity, and wind instruments/singing lessons would be permitted, but we all know schools cannot accommodate 2-metre distancing,” she wrote.

For Kim Tessier of Navan, Ontario, whose twins will be entering Grade 8 in the fall, a key issue is the lack of vaccine mandates at the school board level.

“If the Delta variant is of such great concern why are vaccines not being mandated for the staff and kids to help curb the spread?” she wrote. “I have issues with there being so many other mandatory vaccines for kids in school but this is not one of them.”

NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER

Some of the responses revealed the difficult situation faced by parents whose work situation means that they cannot stay home with their children.

“My 8-year-old daughter will be returning to school in person. I am a single mother than has to work full-time to pay the bills. I have no choice,” wrote Jess Wood of St. Catharines, Ontario.

“I’m scared and hesitant because my father passed away in January 2021 from COVID-19, but what else can I do? I just have to trust the guidelines and hope for the best,” she added.

Paulina, a mother of two boys who lives near Hamilton, Ontario, said she had kept her two sons at home for virtual learning last year and hoped to again, but that she had been told by her employer she would have to return to work in person.

“I don’t feel comfortable sending my kids to school but I do want to keep my job,” she wrote.

WAITING FOR VACCINE APPROVALS

For some parents who had hoped to send their children back to school, the current risks have now made the issue of in-person learning a non-starter until vaccines are approved and distributed to children under 12.

Stephanie Savoni and her husband had kept their 9-year-old son at home in Windsor, Ont. since the pandemic started, but had notified the local board ahead of a June 4 deadline that he would be attending in-person learning this year, as they were comforted by the rapid pace of vaccinations in early June.

“We watched as case counts went down in June and July, and felt confident in our decision,” Savoni wrote. “In recent weeks however, the case numbers are climbing in Windsor-Essex (County) and we are feeling extremely concerned about our decision.”

Complicating the matter for her is that her husband is a transplant recipient, which raises questions about the efficacy of his vaccination. She said stricter action should be taken to avoid a repeat of last year, when rising case counts saw schools sending students home.

“While it would be an unpopular decision, it would be reasonable in my view to have all children do remote learning until they are vaccinated,” she wrote.

Shannon Twiss of Langley B.C., a mother of a 10-year-old, agreed, in a response that was brief and to-the-point.

“We won’t be sending our child until there is a vaccine,” she wrote.