Half of elementary students at Peel public board opted for online learning

Nearly half of students at public elementary schools in a COVID-19 hot spot west of Toronto are learning online, according to data provided by the school board.

Upwards of 54,600 elementary students have opted for remote learning this year at the Peel District School Board and 57,300 have returned to the classroom.

That compares to roughly 35 per cent of elementary students who are learning online at the Toronto District School Board — the province’s largest.

Meanwhile, the Peel board’s high schools are running on an adapted model, with students who chose in-class learning only attending school half the time to minimize contact with their peers.

Still, the board says 27 per cent of high schoolers — around 11,200 — are learning fully online.

Peel Public Health says it’s seen 9,707 cases of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, 8,396 of whom have recovered, and 329 deaths.

It says 5,660 of those cases are from Brampton, Ont., — meaning the city of 600,000 accounts for 11 per cent of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases, but only four per cent of the province’s population.