Students back at W.J. Langlois as Frank W. Begley set to re-open Wednesday

Students at W.J. Langlois Catholic Elementary School were back in their classrooms at 9 a.m. on Monday after all students were shifted to at-home learning last month.

"We're ready," Langlois Principal Kelly Bull said as she waited for the first students to show up this morning.

The school, which was shut down by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit on Nov. 20, had seven cases total among both students and staff.

The outbreak was much smaller than the one at F.W. Begley Public School, where the case count reached nearly 50.

The Langlois outbreak sent the 252 students who had opted for in-class learning to remote learning until the health unit decided it was OK for them to return. 

Rufino Loitimoi, who dropped his two sons at the school this morning, said it's been tough at home, having to push them to get their work done. He said he had mixed feelings about sending them back into the classrooms.

"There's a lot of worries that it's going to happen again," he said.

He said he's still deciding whether or not to switch them into at-home learning come January.

"I'm not sure right now," he said.

His son Benjamine said he'd rather be at the school.

"Honestly, I like to be at school, like writing for real, than being online," he said. "I just I feel like it's easier here."

An adjustment

Joe Pollier said as he dropped his son off for class that he feels the school did a pretty good job with the outbreak and response.

"It's been OK. It's an adjustment but we all got to do what we got to do to curb this nonsense," he said.

"[We feel] as safe as we can be, your hands are kind of tied at this point, are they not?"

Nadia Wright was also happy to have her son back in class. 

She said that while there would be an option in January to change her child's stream to online learning, she will definitely be keeping him in the school.

"We were back pretty quickly, we caught everything very quickly, so I feel confident in the school's ability to take care of the kids and make sure everyone's safe," she said.

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has provided extra staff who can respond to concerns any student or family may have coming back. The health unit has also provided a nurse to the school.

"She's here just to talk with anybody who maybe still has questions about what would happen during the outbreak as well as just provide information should anybody need it," Bull said.