Province considers move to online learning when bad weather strikes

Nova Scotia's education minister says the government may use online learning so students don't have to miss as much school due to the weather.

Zach Churchill told reporters Thursday that the province learned a lot about at-home learning last year after students spent the spring term learning from home.

"We will be enhancing our virtual and online learning opportunities and resources, and so I think that's a conversation that's going to be ongoing over this year for sure," he said. 

"What can we accomplish from being at home? What have we learned? And how can we ensure that the teaching and learning environment for our students is optimized, even if maybe they do have to be at home?"

Students are still expected to make a full return to the classroom next week. However, Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer of health, said Wednesday that "increased transmission" of COVID-19 in a school or community could trigger a blended model for specific schools or families of schools, where grades 9-12 learn from home.

The province's reopening plan has faced criticism from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, which says schools won't be safe by Tuesday. It asked for the first day of school to be pushed back.

Churchill described the union's comments as "hyperbole" and said schools are on track to safely reopen.

Snow days in Nova Scotia

A 2019 report from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies examined weather-related school cancellations in the Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board, and the Halifax Regional School Board. All were dissolved in 2018 and became regional centres for education. 

The report showed students in those districts missed between three and 9.5 days of school in the 2017-18 school year due to snow days, with the most cancellations happening in the Annapolis Valley and the fewest happening in Halifax.

During the 2016-17 school year, weather-related cancellations hit double digits in some areas.

While there were some snow days in the 2019-20 school year, students faced even more school cancellations due to COVID-19. Students haven't been in the classroom since before March break and have spent their spring term learning from home.

Paul Wozney, the head of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, said he couldn't say what he thought of the potential to use online learning to cut back on the amount of missed time for students this winter.

"It certainly hasn't been discussed with us at the reopening planning table, but the employer does have the ability to decide what happens on snow days," he said. "And without further discussion or details, I don't really have any comment."