The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) announced last month that it will no longer be offering remote learning as a full-time option for the 2024-2025 school year.  

The decision was made at the UCDSB meeting on Feb. 14. 

Susan Rutters, superintendent of schools, and Brian Reid, principal of digital learning with the UCDSB, presented an overview of remote learning during the meeting and noted that remote learning across the school board currently makes up less than one per cent of UCDSB enrolment. The school board also expects a decrease in remote learning participation going forward.  

Reid showed remote learning numbers have been declining drastically since the pandemic for both elementary and secondary schools.  

Remote learning was offered as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as required by the Ministry of Education for all publicly funded school boards from 2020-21 to 2022-23. 

The UCDSB decided to extend remote learning options through the 2023-2024 school year to give families and students an extra year to prepare for a return to in-person learning. 

With full-time remote learning ending at the end of the current school year, four students at the Rockland District High School (RDHS) will be impacted.  

RDHS supports a student population from grades seven to 12.  

“If students require any assistance in their learning, they can contact their principal for any type of support options, but remote learning will not be an option for students next (school) year,” Rutters added.