Pause class consolidations during pandemic, say parents at Ottawa school

Parents at a French-language elementary school in Ottawa say the process of class consolidation should not be happening right now due to COVID-19.

Class consolidation happens every year in most school boards, once enrolment is complete, in order to bring class sizes in line with teacher-student ratios set by Ontario'sMinistry of Education.

Students may be moved into different classrooms to fit those ratios, while some classes may be eliminated altogether.

Parents at cole lmentaire publique Francojeunesse were sent an email on Oct. 9, statingthat classes would be consolidated as of Tuesday.

"Some parents are outraged, some parents are resigned," said Daniel Loutfi, who has two children attending the school.

While Loutfi's relieved his children's classes aren'tbeing eliminated outright, he says there will likely be new students coming into their classrooms.

"I do find it extremely disconcerting that at the same time the province is telling uswe're in crisis,and we need to take extraordinary measures such as shutting down restaurants, [they're saying]it's reasonable to make class sizes bigger," Loutfi said.

Another parent told CBC Newsher daughter's kindergarten class would be moving from 15 students to 24.

Regular process

For theConseil des coles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO), the region's French-language public school board, the aim of the consolidation process is to create an overall average class size of 26 to 28 students.

Grades 1 to 3 have a hard cap of 23 students, however, while in Grades 4 to 6 the aim is 24 to 25 kids per class,said Sylvie Tremblay, CEPEO's director of education.

According to the board, the consolidation process has been a bit more difficult this year due to the prevalence of virtuallearning, with some 3,000 students enrolled in the online stream.

"We've had to manage that situation, but I wouldn't say it's worse than any other year," Tremblay said.

"Parents are choosing the mode of schooling that they want for their children, and then we have to make surethat we have teachers that are in place to serve [students taking]the virtual and in-school programs."

No teacher shortage

Tremblaysaid the CEPEO is aiming to align its class sizes with the Ministry of Education's parameters while also following all of the COVID-19 safety protocols.

She said the board does not have a teacher shortage andno additional teachers will be hired.

"It's a series of layered measures that manages the risk of COVID-19 propagation, and those measures are being put into place in all of our schools," she said.

But that doesn't satisfy Loutfi.

"There's no way that this should be happening if the only reason is to meet mandated ministry ratios and to cover the costs." he said.

"We're not even talking about hiring additional teachers here. We're talking about keeping the existing teachers in their classrooms."

In an email, Ministry of Education spokesperson Caitlin Clark said the decision to consolidate is up to individual school boards.

"The leading medical advice was clear that we must allow an opportunity for our students to return to school, combined with layers of prevention to maximize health and safety," wroteClark. "We have done exactly that."