Enrolment in virtual schools is dramatically declining at Ottawa’s English-language school boards and that could put their future in question.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), the city’s largest board, has a projected enrolment of 765 students in its elementary and secondary virtual schools this year. Last year, there were 1,426 students registered.
Jaden Young was one of them, but this year he’s decided to attend in-person classes at John McCrae Secondary School. Part of why he decided to leave was the impact of declining enrolment on his school experience.
“There wasn’t as many courses, they weren’t offering as many courses in French,” he said.
“I was worried that if I kept going through Grade 11, it would stop existing in Grade 12 and I’d have to be the new kid in my senior year of high school.”
The 16-year-old had attended virtual school for most of the last three years. He said he valued the convenience as well as the broadened horizons that came from having virtual classmates with very different experiences.
He wants the option to continue to because it helps people with a range of needs that can be addressed with more flexibility.
“I had a lot of peers in my classes that really do need the virtual school. Some of them might have trouble in big, loud, crowded environments, being in virtual school they can choose their environment and work at their own pace,” he said.
His mother Amanda Young would also like to see virtual school continue, perhaps with collaboration between boards.
“It’s not just for the safety and security reasons we had at the beginning of the pandemic. I think it’s a model of education that can work really well for a lot of kids especially if they have differences in their learning abilities or other differences in their lives,” she said.
In a statement, OCDSB spokesperson Darcy Knoll said staffing is based on enrolment and the board hasn’t made any decisions about the program’s future beyond this year.
Catholic board also seeing decline
The Ottawa Catholic School Board has seen a similar dramatic decline in enrolment. There are 506 students compared to 817 last year at its two virtual schools, St. Josephine and Blessed Carlo.
Sean Kelly, superintendent of intermediate and secondary student success, is responsible for St. Josephine which includes students in Grade 7 through to high school.
“It would be wrong for us to imagine that we can just continue this without evaluating numbers, staffing, administrative teams. That’s why we’re looking at all of those things,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the virtual schools have taken students from across the district and it is sometimes a recommended option for certain students.
“There isn’t one particular profile,” he said. “If they’re an elite athlete or there’s some kind of specific health limitation that requires that they are at home, this would be an option that those educators, those guidance counsellors are speaking to students about.”
He said it’s also providing an opportunity for students who may experience mental health issues that leave them uncomfortable in the hustle of a large school. Kelly said the board does not recommend virtual school as a remedy for students experiencing bullying.
“There’s lots of different things that we can put in place in terms of looking at that to address it before we would ever be offering a virtual option as as some kind of escape from that,” Kelly said.
Ontario’s Ministry of Education did not provide information on how many virtual schools are still running across the province or their enrolment.
“While we will respect the decision of parents, our priority is to provide a normal, stable and enjoyable school year for all students, with an emphasis on protecting in-person learning,” said Grace Lee, a spokesperson for Minister Stephen Lecce.