Students at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School won’t be in the classroom for the first months of class.
Dobi Frenette is the Director of Education for Northern Nishnawbe Education Council says they just don’t have the funding to make the school safe for students, but they hope that will change in the coming weeks.
Like other local schools, DFC will divide the school year into quadmesters, or half-semesters. The first starts September 8th and runs until October 27th.
By the time the second quadmester starts, Frenette says she hopes provincial and federal funding will have come through to allow them to safely re-open the school to students.
She calls it a “very big challenge,” which includes getting students set up for online learning in communities that don’t have a good or reliable internet connection. Frenette says it’s a lot of work to make sure students from remote communities will be safe and supported during the pandemic.
She says the Education Council is looking at using classroom space at the schools in students’ home communities and connecting them with in-person supports.
