Oakwood Collegiate Institute

Hello parents/guardians and students:

Happy Friday!!!! Hope you had the opportunity, yesterday and today to get some fresh air --- and enjoy the beautiful sunshine!  The sun does do wonders for our mind and it definitely always brings a smile to my face.  Let’s everyone remember to smile and thank those frontline workers who are THINKING OTHER.  Please do make sure that you do take care of YOURSELVES, and EACH OTHER and follow the “physical distancing” directive  --- We all must do our part.  Don’t forget to wash your hands!!!!

Thank you for your co-operation, patience, and understanding as we move forward with our “Oakwood-learning ahead”.  Over the last couple of weeks, our staff have been working extremely hard in their preparations, planning, and learning.  As well, I’m grateful for their diligence in reaching out and re-connecting with our students and families.  Checking in your children (and in some cases, yourselves) is so important and cannot be understated.  Many staff have reached out to me sharing how special it is to hear from students and bring some normalcy and routine back despite these challenging times.  At Oakwood, we remind the school each and every day to take risks, to not be afraid to do things differently, to “think outside-the-box” --- and now we are ALL here to “do things DIFFERENTLY”.  This time --- it is so different, that we’ve NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE!  … But one thing I want to remind us all is that we do have each OTHER: students, parents, and staff.  And we have each OTHER to support us all mentally, emotionally --- and of course, academically.  As we will be entering unchartered waters, we will be learning together with your children and responding to the situations and needs that arise.

I want to stress that next week (including Monday) is a ‘soft-opening’ to the learning ahead.  My focus and message to YOU, our students, our staff, and to our community is that:

Oakwood (teachers) will be:

1. CARING educators and … humans
2. Offering learning opportunities to our students
3. Providing feedback to our students (through a variety of means/platforms and communication tools that make sense for Oakwood students and staff – ie. Email, phone, digital tools, Google platforms)
4. Mindful of the guidelines around learning time per course --- learning time includes: teacher-led learning (can take many forms), work provided/assigned/distributed that augments or consolidates/demonstrates learning (articles, questions/responses/reflections, etc.) ---- of course, this will look very different for our DD learners
5. Understanding of the complexities of our individual student situations

For your children, Monday will be similar to a ‘first-day/class’ where it’s about connections and it’s appropriately ‘light’ in terms of workload so that we can assess needs.  You may have heard this already from TDSB Director Malloy: “it’s not business-as-usual” and I reiterate that important point to everyone (students, parents, and staff) but I will confidently say, we at Oakwood, will provide important learning for our students because it’s ‘who we are’.  This week, we will be providing learning and we will build upon that learning as we move forward (of course, being mindful and responsive to all of our learners who we teach this year).  This is not a ‘light-switch’ but rather a ‘dimmer-switch’ where we will together, turn the light brighter for our students as we continue the learning ahead.

For our families with children in our DD program, of course the learning will look even more DIFFERENT however, the 5 focus points above still apply.  Our DD teachers will be in contact with you and best determine together how we can achieve our common goal of providing learning for your children.

Some important ASKS of you as parents and/or guardians: 

1. Please answer a call to phone even though it may be from a ‘blocked call’ or ‘no caller id’ as this is likely one of your caring teachers trying to reach out to you and your child.  
2. Please ensure that your child is checking their TDSB student email as there may be important information on learning and access to virtual classrooms from their teacher
3. Connect with teachers through their email.  For ease of access and a list of emails for teachers, click HERE.

Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact myself or my amazing VP, Lesley Wallace at:

steve.yee@tdsb.on.ca

lesley.wallace@tdsb.on.ca

We will do our best to respond in a reasonable timeframe given the circumstances.

Please enjoy this beautiful sunny weekend ahead…be positive, and embrace the “Oakwood-learning ahead” together --- with our students!

Oakwood, remember:

“Take care of yourself --- and each other,

Strive to be the best you can be,

Don’t be afraid to be different --- Be an ‘Original’, Take risks,

Think ‘outside-the-box’,

Think ‘Other’ ----- Think OCI!!!”

Have a FUNomenal weekend all,

Steve

Hello Parents/Guardians:

Hope everyone and their families are doing well and that we are all staying POSITIVE, SAFE, and HEALTHY.  It is certainly an unprecedented time we are living in, and at times, things seem so uncertain --- but please know that we have many people working to prepare for the ‘new’ learning ahead.  Also, please know that at Oakwood, our staff and community are CARING and that we collectively, have each OTHER.  We will get through this TOGETHER.

In line with ‘who we are’ at Oakwood, our first priority is for the well-being of our staff, students, and families.  During this time, we are very much aware of student well-being and mental health. Both school-based staff and Professional Support Services share responsibilities for supporting student well-being and we will do our best to continue our focus on this. There are a variety of Mental Health and Well-Being Resources for students and families available on the TDSB web.  Please access these resources as needed.

The Ontario government recently has shared that schools WILL NOT re-open on April 6th. When we have more information on new timelines, we will share that with you.  At Oakwood, we understand that parents and students are very concerned about this interruption to student learning.  We also understand the importance of teachers, administrators and all education staff to provide the learning opportunities and programs our students need.  As we are collaborating with all stakeholders to finalize how this direct support to students will be offered over the next while (post April 6, 2020), your child can access supplemental learning opportunities at:

• Ministry of Education Learn at Home website.
• TDSB online resources

Both of these links will help keep students learning and engaged during these first COVID-19 school closure weeks. The Ministry has said that these resources do not replace what students have been learning at school, but are intended to help mitigate the loss of learning during the COVID-19 shutdown period.

The TDSB has been working to resolve a number of challenges that lie in creating conditions where all students and teachers have access to devices and the internet and supporting our Special Education and English as a Second Language students. We are committed to working through all aspects of this situation quickly and effectively under these very difficult circumstances.  Once our plan is finalized, we will share it with staff, students and families. 

Please share any questions or concerns with me directly prior to April 5th, and I will do my best to respond in a reasonable timeframe given the circumstances.  My email is steve.yee@tdsb.on.ca.  Additionally, for the most up-to-date TDSB information please visit our dedicated COVID-19 information site.

Oakwood, remember:

“Take care of yourself --- and each other,

Strive to be the best you can be,

Don’t be afraid to be different --- Be an ‘Original’, Take risks,

Think ‘outside-the-box’,

Think ‘Other’ ----- Think OCI!!!”

Steve.