With 83.5% of high school students vaccinated, York Region school board ready for four-period timetable

'We are grateful to have received this approval from public health'

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 26, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

It is time to ring the bell to usher in the much-awaited four-period timetable for York Region high school students, starting Dec. 6.

The bell is going to ring loud and clear to bring back what York Region District School Board called a “more traditional pre-pandemic secondary timetabling” after receiving approval from York Region Public Health.

“We are grateful to have received this approval from public health,” the board added, describing how it listened to “many students and staff members looking to return to 75 minute periods,” the school board said in a news release Nov. 24.

“This means students will return to participating in four 75-minute course periods each day compared to the current modified semester system with two 150-minute course periods per day alternating weekly,” the board added.

Citing two-dose vaccination as high as 83.5 per cent and the one-dose rate at 87.1 per cent, the board, “this change is possible in part to the vaccine coverage among York Region’s 12 to 17-year-old age group.”

The board, however, said it will monitor COVID-19, and “apply targeted interventions as the situation warrants.”

The start of the year wasn’t easy for YRDSB schools, which implemented a hybrid learning model for the first time for both elementary and secondary schools. But its Catholic counterpart, which applied the hybrid teaching model, axed it for its elementary schools.

Schools will be providing updated schedules to students in advance of Dec. 6.