What it means to be a remote learning principal in the Rainbow District School Board

While many students have returned to physical classrooms, others have opted to continue their studies from home. 

It's prompted some school boards across the province's northeast to appoint new remote learning principals and co-ordinators to help streamline the new distance learning model. 

That includes the region's largest board, the Rainbow District School Board, which recently appointed Emily Caruso Parnell as the board's new principal of elementary remote learning. 

Caruso Parnell says one of the main hurdles she and her colleagues face this school year, is they're in largely uncharted waters. 

"It is daunting," she said. 

"Nothing on this scale has ever been done before at the elementary level. So, there's really no literature in the research cannon to tell us what this is going to look like." 

New demands and possibilities

This year, Caruso Parnell will be steering the virtual ship for remote learners from kindergarten to Grade 8, including students in the board's intensive support programs who are learning from home.

While the year ahead will have unique demands, different from pervious years, she said it will also offer unique  opportunities. 

"There are moments where it's a bit overwhelming but I'm really excited for the possibilities that it offers," Caruso Parnell said.

"I mean, we have kids that are in the same classroom who are from all over the board. So we have kids from Manitoulin Island, we have kids from Sudbury, kids from Markstay, kids from the Valley." 

"Those social connections would have never existed before."

They need to use their tone of voice, use their facial expressions, use gesture, use costume because all the kids are getting is ... a little box.— Emily Caruso Parnell, principal of elementary remote learning

She said faculty have been encouraged to think outside the box to keep students engaged. 

"I've tried to make teachers aware that they need to use their tone of voice, use their facial expressions, use gesture, use costume because all the kids are getting is, you know, a little box." 

"So if we can make that box as engaging as possible and fun as possible then we are more likely to have engagement."

Lockdown strategy

A recent spike in COVID-19 infections across the province has many concerned another lockdown is on the horizon.

While much is uncertain should that be the case, Caruso Parnell said students currently enrolled in remote learning would not see any disruption in their classes.

"In face-to-face schools, they have been working hard to put pieces in place so that if they do have to transition to online school during school closures those teachers are prepared to move more toward the kind of work we're doing in this program."