Hamilton's Catholic school board releases plan for staggered start to school year

Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board has released its plan for a staggered start to the school year.

Under the new plan, the first day of school will be Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The plan is the latest in a string of major updates from local school boards as the start of the year draws near, which areforcingfamilies to adapt quickly.

Here are some of the updates from the Catholic school board:

HWCDSB's staggered start

Kindergarten and high school students are grouped into either Cohort A or Cohort B while elementary school students will be staggered by grade.

On Sept. 9, students with special needs can begin daily attendance if needed. Senior kindergarten students in Cohort A, as well as Grade 1 and Grade 2 students will attend that day too. Sept. 9 will also be Grade 9 orientation. Students registered into the virtual school will not start yet.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, classes will be open only for senior kindergarten students in Cohort B, kids in Grades 3 and 4 and high school students in Cohort B. Educators will also continue preparing for onlinelearning.

On Sept. 11,classes will be open only for juniorkindergarten students in Cohort A, kids in Grades 5and 6and high school students in Cohort A. There are no online courses yet.

On Monday, Sept. 14, online learning begins. Classes will be open only for juniorkindergarten students in Cohort B, kids in Grades 7and 8and high school students in Cohort A.

On Sept. 15, all kindergarten and elementary students will attend school. Only high school students in Cohort B will be in class.

As of Wednesday, Sept. 16, high schools will continue to run on the adaptive model while elementary schools operate under a full return.

"The rationale behind the staggered start is to limit the number of students in schools while health and safety protocols and routines are being learned," reads a release from HWCDSB.

"This will ensure that students and staff are properly educated on the use of masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing and other practices that are being implemented to keep our students and staff safe."

HWCDSB notes the schedule doesn't include start dates for its virtual school and that those details will come soon.

This comes after the board announced it would spend about $3 million from its reserves to cut elementary class sizes and hire teachers to help students physically distance because ofCOVID-19.

The board also said the Ministry of Education is revising the adapted model forhigh school studentsto meet the requirement of 300 instructional minutes per day.

Attention parents, students and teachers: We want to hear from you!

We hope you'll use this form to tell us about school conditions, how classes are going or whatever other pressing issues are on your mind this September in Hamilton, Niagara, St. Catharines and Burlington.