The head of Ontario's trustees association says school boards will have no choice but to combine and collapse some classrooms as school starts this fall.
Cathy Abraham, who is president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, says the decisions will vary at different boards, and possibly happen on a school-to-school basis.
She says combined classes will occur despite there being fewer children in schools as some parents opt to keep their children at home for online learning because of COVID-19.
Abraham says boards must adhere to funding agreements struck with the Ontario government which means class sizes will remain the same despite the student opt outs.
That may mean classes are collapsed, or split classes created, to reach the right government-approved levels in schools.
Premier Doug Ford said yesterday that he was not aware of boards collapsing classes, but acknowledged it could be occurring.