I want to take you back to a time when living was easy and free. Nope, not when we were in our mother’s wombs — I’m talking about high school, baby! Sure, life has lots of times where things were easier than others, however, there was nothing like high school.
I can’t think about how many times I wished I got more time to sleep in back in the day, and now that one Ontario school has implemented these hours, parents are outraged!
In a new story, published by CTV news, a secondary school in Ontario is fighting back after the school board changed their hours.
The petition was started by Durham high school student Erica Trotman. The junior calls the new schedule “extremely impactful to high school students.”
The biggest area for potential conflict is after-school activities.
“There’s a lot of people saying, well, I don’t have time for work, I don’t have time for sports, I’m going to be exhausted and I just feel the exact same way,” Erica told CTV News Toronto on Monday.
According to the Durham District School Board, the schedule change is due to a shortage of school bus drivers in Ontario — a problem that the board says goes back a number of years.
“The ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the issue, and as a result, the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule was the only way that Durham Student Transportation Services could ensure all eligible students can receive transportation services,” DDSB said in a statement provided to CTV News Toronto.
“We understand that this may be a shift for some families and want to highlight that it is not a permanent decision for future school years beyond the 2021-22 school year,” the statement concluded.
For many students, their bus ride is over an hour long, leaving a shorter time for after-school jobs, and quality time.
“My child will have over an hour bus ride home from school. It’s way too late and it will be impossible for her to get an afterschool job,” parent Danielle Bender wrote.
“A lot of it is paying for post secondary. I need to make money for myself,” said student Madison Cook . “It’s been hard to get jobs during COVID. I’m also a ski instruction my entire season was cancelled because of the lockdown in the winter.”
“We understand that there are a number of concerns being raised about the 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. secondary school day in September. Unfortunately, the reality is that due to the pandemic there are less school bus drivers available as we plan for next year,” said Director of Education Tracy Barill.
What do you make of the change? Let us know in the comments below!
h/t: CTV News Toronto
