"School reopening is critical to learning and development for Ontario's students, and a critical support for families to get back to work and allow for the re-opening of the economy", said the government's release.

All elementary and most high school students in Eastern Ontario will be going to school five days a week, starting in September.

Students in Grades 4-8 will be required to wear masks and classes will average 24-25 students per class.

"Child care and early years programs will operate with additional health and safety procedures in place upon fully reopening".

"I have some serious concerns about just sending all of the students in elementary school back full bore", she says.

"The choice of determining when and if they feel comfortable with their child returning to school during the school and the delivery of live teacher-led synchronous learning when they're not in school", Lecce said. In the coming days, outreach will occur with parents/guardians to assist in understanding the number of students to be in school in September.

Ontario elementary school students should plan for a full return to class this fall while high school students in the larger school boards will attend class on alternate days, under the provincial government's back-to-school plan. "We've opened daycares and camps and there has been no increase in cases".

"On the flip side, I'm a little nervous", Cote added. We always wear our masks and carry hand sanitizer, so it's a hard call.

While most of the area's students will be back in class full-time, some may be required to take part in the hybrid model, which includes a mix of at-home and in-class learning.

Sarlo said children's mental health and wellbeing through normal socialization at school is crucial, despite the risk of COVID-19.

"There wasn't enough information or protection for our kids", she said.

"No, they're not going". "This is what we should be doing to continue education".

Cabral said her kids, aged eight and 16, struggled with online learning. "The disappointment actually comes from the additional info that seems to be smoke and mirrors", Hare said.

Spagnuolo says elementary class sizes will make following public health guidelines almost impossible. Physical distancing will be enforced, although it's not clear how much.

"Eastview has about 2,000 students, as does Innisdale. I'm not quite sure how you do both at the same time", says adds. "We are going to have those who don't want to return and we'll have to see what that looks like".

He said overall, the success of the plan will be largely based on how well the community as a whole does to contain the spread of the virus.

For non-designated school boards - which includes the Upper Grand and Wellington Catholic district school boards - schools will be able to open for daily attendance.

"We had previously sent a survey out to all of our families and staff to see how people were feeling about the three scenarios we were presented with before today's announcement", Stevenson said.

"We were told by the unions they wanted access to (Personal Protective Equipment) for their members and we have done that for every single educator and supply teacher and staff member entering our schools".

Officials at the Simcoe County District School Board were not available for comment by publication time.

High schools will be a different situation, however, with the province laying out different options for various school boards.

"It will go back to those really innovative timetabling approaches and formatting" for schools in non-des boards that are overcrowded, the Ministry official noted.

"While parents of younger students from JK to Grade 3 may be concerned about their children's ability to observe social distancing, Pelletier, as a parent of an eighth grader, said "(older children are) pretty responsible in knowing to keep their distance.