Hamilton public school board manages to further reduce elementary class sizes

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Published September 3, 2020 at 3:12 pm

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) announced this week that they’d be reducing class sizes further in elementary schools

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) announced this week that they’d be reducing class sizes further in elementary schools

At a special board meeting on Monday (August 31), it was determined that class sizes in kindergarten and in grades 4 to 8 can be reduced to 21 students.

Class sizes in grades 1 to 3 have already been capped at 20. High school class sizes have also been capped at 15.

Previous class size estimates were based on the assumption that all students in the HWDSB would be returning to in-class learning.

Late last week, the window for registering elementary students for remote or in-class learning closed and a little under 20 per cent of students will be attending remote classes.

This has enabled the board to reduce class sizes from their previous estimates of Kindergarten classes to have 25 to 26 students and in the higher grades, 24 or 25 students.

Board director, Manny Figueiredo, told trustees class sizes could potentially drop further because, as it stands, the default option for elementary parents was in-class learning.

As the school year gets underway, Figueiredo said he felt confident that some parents may opt for remote learning which would continue to impact class sizes.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the agenda touched on the board’s plans in the event an outbreak of the virus was reported at the school.

Late last week, the Ontario Ministry of Education released their guidelines for outbreaks in schools.

There were 70 recommendations withing the provincial guidelines.

“This week, HWDSB staff, together with Hamilton Public Health and key staff from the other local school boards will finalize the Hamilton Outbreak Management Protocol, based on the provincial document,” an HWDSB report says.

“Ongoing communication will be provided to support parents, students, and staff to understand the steps that will occur.”

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