If you wish to register your child in virtual school with the Rainbow District School Board for the 2022-23 school year, you only have until tomorrow (March 4).
The board published a link to the online registration form on its Rainbow Virtual School Facebook page on Feb. 25.
The deadline to complete the online form is March 4.
“To plan for staffing and classes, no changes will be considered after this survey closes on Friday, March 4, 2022,” said information on the form.
Students will remain registered at their home school for in-person learning unless remote learning registration at the Rainbow Elementary Virtual School is selected for the 2022-2023 school year.
The registration survey for kindergarten to Grade 8 is available here, and the form for grades 9-12 is available here.
Rainbow board director of education Bruce Bourget said the tight timeline was needed to align with the board’s planning deadlines.
The board begins working on its enrolment predictions at this time of year, and it needs this information to best plan to meet students’ needs.
“Parents are asked to make the decision now,” he said. “The reason for that is we need to know what our numbers are. Wide fluctuations of students can create additional classrooms that we’re not staffed for or planning for.”
The province recently announced that school boards must provide virtual school once again for the 2022-23 school year.
Bourget said he thinks the province has made this decision “to try to be safe in case there are future considerations perhaps with the pandemic.”
He said the board is hopeful that “unless there is an extraordinary circumstance,” he’s hopeful parents will select in-person learning, as it’s generally better for students not only academically, but in terms of their social and emotional needs.
"We do feel strongly that classroom-based learning is the best way for students to be educated,” Bourget said.
The registration form said that “registration in the Virtual School should only be selected to address factors that are in the best interest of your child and/or family.
“Please carefully consider whether registering for the Virtual School for the entire 2022-2023 school year is in the overall best interest of your child's development.”
While the registration deadline has not yet passed, Bourget said that as of right now, it shows “there is a significant decline in interest in remote learning.”
Several people commenting on the Rainbow Virtual School Facebook page voiced concern about the tight deadline to fill out the registration form.
“Not okay, I have until March 4th to decide whether to stay with virtual school for the whole 2022-2023 school year and in fact, it is an assumed NO, unless this survey is complete by said date,” said one person.
“This is not enough time to make an informed decision,” said another. “My kids will go back to in-class learning if I feel it is safe to do so. If not, they will stay home.”
