As of now, Simcoe County school boards are preparing for students to return in person after the Christmas break, despite messaging being sent out asking students to take home all their personal belongings at the end of this week.
Both the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) touched on January plans during their regular board meetings Wednesday night.
“Some schools are getting notice, particularly at other boards, to bring their belongings home for the winter break in case of school closures after the holidays,” said SCDSB student trustee Abby Goneau during the public board’s meeting. “What is our board’s plan?”
Director of education John Dance said the board’s current plan is for students to take home their personal belongings as a precautionary measure.
“If we reach that point after the break, we will communicate that,” said Dance. “Our Ontario chief medical officer of health, as well as the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, have been very clear that they’re not looking at closing schools at this point.”
Trustee and chair Jodi Lloyd said she’s been informed during conference calls she’s had with the ministry of education that the goal and focus is on keeping schools open for students to return after the holiday break.
“We will be monitoring over the holiday what the current situation is... both provincially and locally,” said Lloyd.
At Wednesday night’s Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board meeting, Lonnie Bolton, superintendent of student services, referenced the board’s January plans to send home more rapid antigen tests for students, with the costs covered by the provincial government.
Earlier this week, all students in publicly funded schools in Ontario were sent home with one rapid antigen test kit so testing could be completed on a voluntary basis throughout the two-week holiday. One kit contains five tests.
Only students were provided with the free tests, despite a push from teachers unions to also be provided with the free kits.
"While school boards are providing students with rapid tests to use over the holidays, teachers and education workers have been excluded from this important preventative health and safety measure," noted a Dec. 16 news release from the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
During the Catholic board meeting, Essa/Adjala-Tosorontio/New Tecumseth trustee Janice Hutchison asked about rapid testing, and whether tests could be provided for staff in January.
“We had no direction from the ministry of education, the ministry of health or the provincial government to provide tests for staff,” said Bolton. “The barriers are around capacity.”
Bolton said the province provided rapid tests to the school board based on student population numbers only.
“Some schools did not have the supply to meet the number of students, to be honest, while other schools received more, so last week we had to redistribute them to make sure all schools had enough,” he said.
Bolton clarified that the board still does have some extra kits, but not enough for all 3,000 employees and the board is required to have equity of access.
Bolton also said the province has signalled they want to provide a second round of rapid antigen test kits to students – two kits with five tests per kit, per student in January to ensure students can be tested at home twice a week for five weeks leading into February – as a safety measure to make sure schools can stay open.
“We did not want to deplete the inventory surplus and not have enough to give to the students in January because we’re hearing we might not have the full shipment come to us when we have to distribute,” he said.
