A message for staff from Stuart Miller, Director of Education, HDSB (COVID-19)

A message for staff from Stuart Miller, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board about the continuity of learning during the Ontario school closure.


SCRIPT BELOW:
Hi everyone, I’m here to talk to you today about the learning continuity that we will be embarking on in the next two weeks or so to support our students learning and to support them emotionally, as well.

I know that this is a very difficult time for all our staff. You are experiencing the same anxiety and fear that the general population is. You have partners and perhaps spouses or family members who have lost their jobs and there’s economic challenges, and now that day cares are shut you have your own children at home. It’s a challenge.

We are about to transform the way we deliver education in the Halton District School Board from direct classroom for our 65, 000 students to distant learning, however that looks. For most it will be on-line and we have to consider those students with special needs, English as a Second Language, technical problems, spotty internet in places and various other problems that may crop up and likely will crop up while you are helping our students.

But I have every confidence in the staff of HDSB - both teachers and all our education workers have proven themselves time and time again that they care about our students.

You chose education to make a difference and unfortunately you really have to make the difference now. We have to make this work and we will make this work to support our students and our province.

So on behalf of the senior team I want to thank you for what you are going to do coming up very soon in delivering education and your teaching in a way that we have not done so before.

Finally I would just like to acknowledge the work of healthcare workers and all those and some of them our students, who deliver food and do those other tasks for us while we’re working.

HDSB staff good luck with this, I have every confidence in you.

Thank you.