Pair of Mississauga high schools to close for in-person learning on election day
Published September 15, 2021 at 12:11 pm
A pair of Peel District School Board (PDSB) high schools will be closed for in-person learning on Monday (September 20) due to the election, the board has announced.
According to an announcement from PDSB, Stephen Lewis Secondary School and John Fraser Secondary School both in Mississauga, will be closed on election day in order to operate as polling stations for voters.
“Elections Canada has approved two PDSB secondary schools for use as polling stations on Monday, September 20,2021,” the PDSB said in a statement.
On Monday, students, instead of attending in-person, will be participating in the board’s online learning model.
The decision from PDSB is intended to help mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-19, and exposing students and voters to the virus.
“To reduce the number of people onsite at each school and to help keep students and staff safe, all classes at these two secondary schools will be moved to online learning, within the Community Learning Model, for the entire school day,” reads the statement.
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However, considering students in Ontario have been out of school for such a long period of time, many—especially parents—have expressed frustration with the decision.
We learned last night that @PeelSchools has forced students & staff at 2 of their high schools to go remote on election day — online — while they give over those schools to adults voting.
ONschools have been closed to in-person learning for 26 wks. Kids have been back a week
— Ontario Parent Action Network (@parentaction4ed) September 15, 2021
Other boards, including the Toronto District School Board, elected not to close their schools so they could be used as polling stations on election day.
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