'That's a lot of change for a little person': Parents worry as HWDSB reorganizes again

Three teachers, nine months. That's the kind of change Ethan De Coste's mother says her son has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That's a lot of change for a little person … little people get really attached to each other," Amanda De Coste, said.

Ethan was part of the second massive reorganization at Hamilton's public school board. He and the two best friends he made this year at Franklin Road Elementary School have drifted to different classrooms.

"In the morning of the day he was supposed to go to his new classroom, he was very miserable and he told me he was nervous to go to school because he didn't know anybody."

It's the kind of situation Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board director Manny Figueiredo and the rest of HWDSB were trying to avoid, but knew would happen during the restructuring.

The board normally reorganizes at the end of September after it determines how many students are enrolled, but the pandemic disrupted the process. 

The reorganization was pushed from late September to this Tuesday after delays with its first unprecedented reshuffling. Then, HWDSB learned there were about 1,700 fewer students enrolled than previously thought which has implications for the school's budget. All of that, coupled with 300 more students moving to virtual learning, forced educators to be reassigned across the board — and students like Ethan to consistently adapt to change.

"It's emotionally affected him but his perseverance is very admirable for a five-year-old … he's just happy to be there," De Coste said.

Figueiredo said this reorganization has been more challenging than the one in August, back before classes started. While that one took longer to straighten out, this one has caused more disruption.

In-person classes have an average of roughly 20 to 21 students, but some have larger classes, particularly in the virtual school.

While reorganization offered some temporary teachers a chance to work when they otherwise might have remained on the job hunt, local unions representing teachers, educational assistants and designated early childhood educators have all heard from members who are concerned about disorganization.

"We have teachers who don't have assignments, we have teachers who have had two assignments given to them, we have teachers being told to be in two places at once today … this is pushing teachers that much further," Jeff Sorensen, president of the Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers' Local union, said on Tuesday.

"There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I'm not on the phone with a DECE who has not been extremely distraught by what's going on," Tamara DuFour, president of the Hamilton-Wentworth Designated Early Childhood Educators Local, said in an interview on Thursday. 

Jennifer Swallow said her son Matthew Buckingham, a Grade 5 student with learning disabilities, avoided having to switch classes but she wonders if things will stay the way they are. In January and March, students can, once again, switch between in-person and online learning — which would lead to more reorganization.

"Come January, they may have to go through all of this again … he'll regress so rapidly. He'll basically shut down," she said.

HWDSB needs provincial help to avoid reorganization

Figueiredo said the province has put the board in a tough position because without any extra money. It has no choice but to continue shuffling during the transition periods.

"How do we honour parent choice without having to reorganize? Because we can't do this again. I don't want to do this again," he said.

"[The province] heard loud and clear, boards across the province are asking them to look at revenue based on our projections, not our exact enrolment because it is a COVID reality this year ... if there is some flexibility it would allow us to honour parent choice in January by adding more teachers and not moving people around."

The transition in January isn't expected to be as large and the school is hoping it can try and get some of the 1,700 unenrolled students back into the board. That would increase funding and allow the board to hire more educators.

So far, the board has been relying on reserve funds — money they use for emergencies — to reduce class sizes.

Schools would close without public health nurses

Despite Hamilton schools dealing with COVID-19 cases among students and staff, Figueiredo said the provincial funding for public health nurses has been key in avoiding outbreaks and infection inside schools.

It has been especially important since reorganization forced class cohorts to change.

He emphasized families need to continue to follow preventative measures like hand-washing, masking, distancing and self-screening as staff update all their various contact lists.

"Those public health nurses, the 23, I don't know how schools would be open if the province didn't fund these positions," Figueiredo said.

"There will be at least two meetings for every positive case in one day, whether that's a Friday night, whenever they get it. The intensity of the follow-up and phone calls, I don't know how we would be able to do it. That's something needs to continue."