Ontario families scramble as Omicron forces 2-week school closure

As of Wednesday, Ontario students will resume virtual learning full-time for two weeks, which has parents feeling 'devastation' amid the Omicron COVID-19 wave.

Jake Goodman really enjoyed his science class.

Just before the holiday break, the Grade 10 student at Northview Heights Secondary School in Toronto was dissecting frogs, burning magnesium and making carbon dioxide.

Now, Jake can’t look forward to returning to school given that as of Wednesday in Ontario, he and millions of other students will shift to remote learning for two weeks as part of the government’s plan to limit the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

“You can’t do the things on a computer that you can do in class. We’ve been doing science labs and chemistry,” the 15-year-old told Global News.

“You can’t do that online — you just have websites that you look at and Google slideshows. … It gets tiresome (and) it feels like it’s just the same thing over and over.”

Starting Wednesday, all publicly funded and private schools will move to remote learning until at least Jan. 17, subject to public health trends and operational considerations, the Ontario government announced Monday.

School buildings will be allowed to stay open for child-care operations, including emergency child care; for in-person teaching for students with special education needs who can’t learn remotely; and for staff who are unable to deliver quality instruction from home.

Furthermore, the province said that during the remote-learning period, free emergency child care will be provided for school-aged children of health care and other eligible frontline workers.