Ontario students seek grade ‘freeze’ during Omicron interrupted semester

Omicron-interrupted semester after some boards said final marks wouldn’t fall further than where they were at the end of last year.The students behind various petitions — which have together garnered more than 15,000 signatures supporting the call for a grade freeze — have formed a sort of unofficial network, sharing information about advocating for what they say would be a more equitable system that accounts for the complexities of the COVID-era classroom.

Ontario to begin lifting COVID-19 restrictions on Jan. 31 “This constant transition back and forth between online to in-person, online, without any idea of what’s going to happen next, has taken a large toll,” said high school senior Kake Jin, one of the organizers of a petition targeting the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.“It’s just the general ominous atmosphere that’s putting a lot of stress on students.”Ontario has moved between in-person and remote learning several times since the pandemic hit.

Most recently, students began the winter term with remote learning as COVID-19 cases soared, and returned to physical classrooms this week.Jin said she was struck by the number of empty desks when she returned to in-person learning a few days ago.She didn’t know if her missing classmates were in isolation after being exposed to COVID-19, if they had come down with the virus, or if they were staying home out of fear.But she did know it wasn’t an ideal learning situation.Students’ performance may falter as they try to study for exams while under pandemic-induced stress or miss classes due to isolation requirements, Jin said, so those in boards where grades won’t fall further are at an advantage.