Several Ontario school boards are planning to continue offering virtual learning next year, forging ahead before the province decides whether to require it.
The boards moving forward include Ottawa-Carleton, Toronto Catholic and the Toronto District School Board.
They say the offering is now more about a different mode of learning, rather than a pandemic response.
Brendan Browne, the director of education at the Toronto Catholic board, says many families are still interested, for medical reasons or their individual situations, and the board wants to be able to reach every learner.
Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the T-D-S-B, says they're moving ahead now because they need to make staffing decisions for next year.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, however, says it is fundamentally opposed to virtual learning being used as an instructional and learning model because in-person is best.