Students back at W.J. Langlois as Frank W. Begley set to re-open Wednesday

Students at W.J. Langlois Catholic Elementary School were back in their classrooms at 9 a.m.on Monday after all students were shifted to at-home learning last month.

"We're ready," LangloisPrincipal Kelly Bull said as she waited for the first students to show up thismorning.

The school, which was shut down by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit on Nov.20, had seven cases total among both students and staff.

The outbreak was much smaller than the oneat F.W. Begley Public School, wherethe case count reached nearly 50.

The Langlois outbreak sent the 252 students whohad opted for in-class learning to remote learning until the health unit decided it was OKfor them to return.

Rufino Loitimoi, whodropped histwo sons at the school this morning, saidit's been tough at home, having to push them to get their work done. He said he had mixed feelings about sending them back into the classrooms.

"There's a lot of worries that it's going to happen again," he said.

He said he's still deciding whether or not to switch them into at-home learning come January.

"I'm not sure right now," he said.

His son Benjamine saidhe'd rather be at the school.

"Honestly, I like to be at school, like writing for real, than being online," he said. "Ijust I feel like it's easier here."

An adjustment

Joe Pollier saidas he dropped his son off for classthat hefeels the school did a pretty good job with the outbreak and response.

"It's been OK. It's an adjustment but we all got to do what we got to do to curbthis nonsense," he said.

"[We feel] as safe as we can be, your hands are kind of tied at this point, are they not?"

Nadia Wright was also happy to have her son back in class.

She said that while there would be an option in January to change her child's stream to online learning, she will definitely be keeping himin the school.

"We were back pretty quickly, we caught everything very quickly, so I feel confident in the school's ability to take care of the kids and make sure everyone's safe," she said.

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board has provided extra staff who can respond to concerns any student or family may have coming back. The health unit has also provided a nurse to the school.

"She's here just to talk with anybody who maybe still has questions about what would happen during the outbreak as well as just provide information should anybody need it," Bull said.