For online students, hybrid education 'not working', York Region Catholic board parents say

'We’re looking at the back of the teacher's head or the side for half the time'

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 28, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

After almost two weeks of the York Region Catholic School Board switching to the hybrid model, children who started their education online are now experiencing a much deteriorated educational standards, their parents say.

From ongoing technical glitches, “muffled” sound systems, no assigned teachers for some subjects to a huge swoop down in teacher-to-student engagement are all some of the main complaints ever since hybrid -- combining both online and in class students together -- became the status quo for YCDSB schools official on Oct. 13.

“There is no way that a teacher in class can focus on both in class and virtual kids,” Afrooz Cianfrone, who has begun a petition online “Stop the dictated solution to the new Hybrid Model that affects Kids' education” that garnered 4,313 votes out of 5,000 as of Oct. 26, said.

“It's not going to work for the in class kids, and it's not going to work for the virtual kids,” Cianfrone said.

Cianfrone has two sons who go to St. Emily Catholic Elementary School in Vaughan.

Before YCDSB’s change to hybrid due to “operational and staffing challenges,” Carmen Colella was happy with his daughter’s earlier junior kindergarten experience at the Woodbridge-based Guardian Angels.

“He (the teacher) was 100% engaged with the computer, he was looking at the computer 100% of the time, they could play games with each other because all the kids were remote learners,” Colella said.

“For example, he would, you know, tell the students if they like pizza to step to the left, if they like hotdogs, step to the right, and the kids would be able to see who likes pizza, and who likes hotdogs, and they build a relationship with each other,” he added.

However, an observant father, Colella has witnessed the adverse fallout in his child’s engagement post-hybrid.

“We’re looking at the back of the teachers, head or the side for half the time,” said the concerned Colella of the more flat visuals.

It’s not only what they see. But Colella described the sound as “muffled” at times and feels as if the teacher is speaking from “under the water.”

Colella, who has posted his miniature of online polls, showed how the overwhelming majority of YCDSB’s parents aren’t impressed with hybrid.

Colella shares a screengrab of a poll done by another parent, showing how they are rejecting the YCDSB hybrid system.

Like many other parents, Cianfrone and Colella feel that the switch to hybrid was abrupt and didn’t involve their inputs to bring about such key decision.

Cianfrone who is working full-time from home is also seeing a much decreased engagement.

In a letter she wrote to the Board, she said, "My children were having meltdowns today. My younger one refused to go in the meeting because he could not connect to his classroom teacher that he adores. He was very disappointed not to be able to see her and connect with her the way he would have in the classroom.”

“My older child was confused that now he has friends who have been separated from him and all in one class and him being placed in another class by himself,” she wrote in reference of how online students have had to be put in new classes once again. “He was confused about how they are all at the gym and he is not.”

Prior to the hybrid, Cianfrone’s two sons were “very engaged and happy.”

“They woke up in the morning. Yeah, of course, they missed their friend and everything. But they had a lot of their friends that were also in their virtual classes from their school. So it didn't really feel like they're left out or anything,” she said.

There is also no consistency in teachers.

“One of my kids doesn't have a permanent teacher,” Cianfrone said. “Now, they've been alternating between different supply teachers, and I can see the regression in my child who was a very excited kid and was doing well and ahead of his class.

“Especially for a seven-year old, encouragement is key and these kids have been home since March.”

Some parents share their experience on Twitter.

Education a ‘disaster’ before hybrid

Unlike Colella and Cianfrone, Francoise Elhajj’s experience before going hybrid was a “disaster” and it has only worsened after.

Elhajj’s Grade 4 daughter is enrolled at St. Joseph's Catholic elementary school in Richmond Hill.

“Both types of models are a complete disaster for our children, I have to say that,” the mother, who works a full-time job, said. “The first thing is that the first model, we had only two hours of tutoring, and then the teacher would just post information on Google Classroom where the kids are expected to read, and parents are expected to explain to them, because the teacher does not explain anything.

They just explain to them how to find the material that they are posting online.”

Then after receiving the email at “midnight” before Thanksgiving that the upcoming week is going to be hybrid, a whole new experience ensued.

“On (first day hybrid Oct. 13) Tuesday, we have no teacher. Wednesday there is no teacher. Thursday, no teacher, Friday, no teacher, and nobody is telling us what's happening.”

Parents were logging online and “nobody was responding,” she recalled.

After sending an email to the trustees, she received a phone call from the “superintendent apologizing that there is no teacher assigned to the class” even though she has received a notification earlier on saying that there is indeed a teacher assigned.

“I kept on emailing the trustees and I kept on emailing (Board directory Mary Battista) Miss Battista no reply whatsoever,” Elhajj said of her experience in line with what both Colella and Cianfrone described the lack of responsiveness from the Board.

In addition to the missing general teacher, there was also an issue with finding the whereabouts for the “assigned” French teacher, who for the first two days didn’t log in nor notified the parents that she can’t at least make it.

After citing “technical difficulties” after this, the teacher sends an assignment to the students, asking them to present a few slides and present themselves to her.

After asking the students to read, Elhajj finds out that it was the “very first time ever in my life to know that my daughter has learned zero in the French language since she started school.”

“She could not read a single word and I have to sit next to her and tell her -- Angela -- try to read.”

Afterward her daughter responded to the teacher, explaining “I don't know how to read French, I can't read it,” the teacher claims that there is a “technical issue that she can’t hear Angela” and “moves on to the other kids.”

While Elhagg has suffered with her teachers’ experience, Colella and Cianfrone have lauded the teachers, blaming the Board for this educational disarray.

In an email to the Board, Cianfrone titled her email, "HYBRID MODEL DOES NOT WORK."

After citing equity as a thorny issue, she wrote, "Not all teachers have help and the hybrid model will put a lot of pressure on parents, kids and teachers alike."

She asked the Board,“ Are we supposed to only be pressured into sending our kids to school for a quality education during a pandemic?

York Region Media sent an email to YCDSB inquiring about these complains including if there is a shortage in teachers and funding, the Board replied a day after on Oct. 27, saying, "We will review it and get back to you."