Jack Stearns-Ley, a gifted student, used to feel energized, challenged and fulfilled by school.

Now? "I'm not really accomplishing or doing anything," said the Grade 7 student at Bennetto Elementary School. "I'm just here."

Stearns-Ley is one of millions of Ontario students who've been shut out of classrooms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those students, along with their teachers, are in somewhat of a holding pattern, waiting for direction from school boards, who are waiting for direction from the Ministry of Education.

"Let's see how this moves forward," Premier Doug Ford said Thursday. "I will not risk putting the children back in school when it comes to their health."

It seems all but certain schools will stay closed past the previously announced April 6 reopening date, with even Ford saying it's "not realistic" for school to reopen then.

A letter from Grand Erie District School Board sent to families Friday states: "Next week, we anticipate Ontario Premier Doug Ford will announce that the provincewide school closures currently in place will be extended. For how long, we don't know."

In the meantime, boards are making contingency plans.

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB), along with other boards, is currently gearing up for digital learning that would help students if the closure is extended. The board, along with the Ministry of Education, is working with internet companies to ensure all students have access to e-learning, said Manny Figueiredo, director of education. "All boards have been asked in this phase to prepare for potential future closing," he said. "We've all been asked to prepare for digital learning beyond this."

Minister Stephen Lecce says he spoke with teacher union presidents Wednesday to discuss at-home student learning. "We also discussed issues such as how to minimize student learning loss, strengthen professional development of educators to better support students online and outside the classroom, and efforts to ensure a continuum of professional care on issues such as mental health and special education needs," he said. He said "as we move beyond the two-week closure period" the province will co-operate with unions to ensure "continuing the education of Ontario's students."

Mandatory e-learning had been a sticking point with teachers before COVID-19 impacted the school year. Weeks of strikes, fuelled by refusals to accept mandatory e-learning and other changes such as larger classroom sizes, led to the province backtracking, allowing students to opt out of e-learning and adjusting the originally proposed class sizes.

Since the decision to close schools was made, the province's Catholic teachers' union and public elementary teachers' union have struck provisional deals for a contract.

Jeff Sorensen, president of the Hamilton-Wentworth Elementary Teachers' Local, isn't convinced the era of e-learning has arrived, regardless of what plans are rolled out. "We don't have infrastructure planning to make it viable, fair to everyone," he said. "Nothing can replace having caring educators in the same physical space."

Right now, he wishes teachers had a clearer sense of what the future holds. "To be fair to Doug, he doesn't have the magic crystal ball either," Sorensen said, but he would like the province to at least confirm school closures are being extended and for roughly how long.

In Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, school is cancelled "indefinitely." In Quebec, Premier Fran�ois Legault hopes students are back by May. In Ontario, students' futures hang in the balance.

Stearns-Ley understands why the cancellations are necessary; to keep people safe.

But on long days filled with no plans, it's hard not to think of all he'll miss out on as closures drag on: a class trip at an overnight camp and hanging out with Grade 8 friends who are graduating this year.

He feels he's missing out on something else too: "The normalness of it."

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katrinaclarke@thespec.com

905-526-4629 | @katrinaaclarke