Back to School

It is Danica's turn to go back to school today. In this staggered start, one of her stepsisters returned yesterday; JJ will get back to the grind tomorrow.

I wanted to do a Back to School photoshoot with Danica and JJ but was asked to also take some group photos with the stepkids. I didn't mind.

How different the world is! No one last year, in their wildest dreams, would have predicted going back to school in masks after a very extended break from March to September. Even going back this September is chancy. Our government has decided that it is in society's best interest to get the kids back to school, but maybe that is economic and social best interest and not health and safety best interest.

The Masked Miscreants: I think the mono version suits the times more appropriately.

Our kids will be eschewing the school bus, which is a good thing, but they must be dropped off at least two blocks from the door, which doesn't make an ounce of sense to me.

On FB, Lexi's (right, glasses) mother posted a photo of Lexi meeting her friends two blocks away. She was with 7 or 8 friends. They were close together in the photo and unmasked. They would then have gone to school and sat in a crowded classroom, masked, for many hours. Do you see any logic in the two-block rule? Wouldn't it be better to have everyone dropped off at the school with masks on? Consider that those who are using the school bus will be in close proximity for the whole ride, perhaps with three to a seat in some cases. UI don't see what the two-block rule accomplishes except to make it seem like the Board is doing something.

And this concern is ignoring whether the kids should be going back at all. There are already cases in city schools that had returned to school earlier, and I saw that in the province of Quebec. which returned last week, there have been cases in 118 schools as of yesterday. Meanwhile, the provincial new case numbers have climbed to almost 200 per day since Labour Day when just a few weeks ago we were well below 100. I find this alarming.

Our kids had, and maybe still have, the option of choosing online learning. Perhaps they should have done that, but, understandably, they really want to be back with their friends. Let's hope for the best.

We will do our bit, for on Monday, we had our last family dinner (for now). We made Mexican Lasagna, which was very fine, indeed, but it does grieve me somewhat to return to semi isolation.

Now, for a few more group photos. It was really too windy and sunny for technically excellent photos, but one does what one can.