The vast majority of Ontario schools will also close their doors on April 8 to allow students to “avoid the dangers of the solar eclipse”. Several Ontario school boards had also announced this decision well before their Quebec counterparts, in January.
According to information compiled by The dutyno less than 83% of school boards – public, Catholic, French and English sectors combined – have announced measures to adapt their calendar to the astronomical event.
Most chose to postpone an educational day planned in the calendar to release the children on April 8. However, in Ontario, only the south and east of the province are in the path of the total eclipse, according to the Astronomical Society of the Montreal Planetarium.
“This decision is taken out of caution, because the eclipse will occur at a time when students would be traveling to their homes,” writes the communications officer for the Providence Catholic School Board, Lyne Cossette.
The largest school board in the province, that of Toronto, has also decided to postpone an educational day. “Look directly at the sun, […] without proper protection, can lead to serious problems such as partial or complete loss of vision,” he wrote in a statement.
Some fear that darkness will cause traffic problems and worry about the “safety” of students in such conditions. They also don’t want children to watch the eclipse on the way home, without parental supervision.
Others, like the Conseil scolaire de district catholique des Aurores boréales or the Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord, have chosen to release students earlier, around noon. The Viamonde and MonAvenir school boards, in the suburbs of Toronto, will have children from home work “asynchronously,” on materials that “have been distributed to them in advance.” The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, which could not move an educational day, decided to close all its schools.
Decisions criticized by the Ontario Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce. Last Monday, he said he approved the relocation of educational days, but was not “comfortable” with the cancellation of classes. “What I do not support is closing schools without allowing children access to their educators. »
Several media have also reported that the union representing teachers of Catholic elementary schools in Toronto is also calling for teleworking during the educational day of April 8.
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.