No field trips, extracurriculars until further notice: York public school board announces COVID-19 reopening plans

Masks mandatory for students in grades 4 to 12

Yorkregion.com
July 31, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Ontario will be spending $40 million to clean school buses. - Graham Paine/Torstar file photo

Lockers won't be permitted and extracurricular activities, including filed trips, are not allowed until further notice -- these are some of York Region District School Board's directives announced late afternoon July 30 after the Ontario government unveiled its plans for school reopening earlier in the day.

The province said elementary schools -- from kindergarten to Grade 8 -- will reopen provincewide, with in-class instruction five days a week.

Secondary schools with lower risk will reopen with a normal daily schedule, five days a week, while most secondary schools will start the school year in an adapted model of part-time attendance with class cohorts of up to 15 students, alternating between attending in-person and online.

The province also announced face masks will be mandatory for students in grades 4 to 12, and school staff.

"Parents/guardians will be expected to provide their child with a personal face covering (non-medical mask) to wear at school to reduce the spread of their own respiratory droplets to protect others," YRDSB said in it online notice.

For kindergarten to Grade 3, "non-medical or cloth masks are strongly encouraged for students", but not mandatory.

Parents are also responsible to review a checklist of health assessment on a daily basis before sending their children to day camp, child care or school settings, the board said.

"Any student experiencing COVID-19 symptoms is required to remain home," it added.

The board explained that hand-sanitizing stations will be placed in the front lobby of the school and in classrooms, and students are not encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer.

"Students and staff members will wash their hands or use hand sanitizer regularly, including when they enter the classroom, before and after lunch and recess, after using the washroom or touching shared objects or common touch spots," it said.

There will be no lunch drop-offs allowed and students are responsible to bring their lunch and snacks and reusable water bottles each morning.

While locker use will not be allowed, elementary school students will be allowed to use hooks and cubbies.

For more information, please visit the school board's website.

The province said its plan was developed in consultation with the chief medical officer of health, the COVID-19 Command Table and pediatric experts, and that it prioritizes the health and safety of students with "unprecedented resources and flexibility" while "accommodating regional differences in trends of key public health indicators".

The government was lambasted for a lack of funding for school reopening by a dozen protesters outside Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott’s office July 29.

The protesters urged the province to provide enough funding to reopen classrooms safely, or keep schools closed.

In its news release, the Ontario government said it’s providing more than $300 million in "targeted, immediate, and evidence-informed investments".

It includes $60 million in procurement of medical and cloth masks for students and staff, with direction to boards to ensure students who cannot afford a mask are provided one. However, so far, it’s unclear how that would trickle down to YRDSB.

The figure also includes $30 million for teacher staffing to support supervision, control class sizes and other safety-related measures, and $50 million to hire up to 500 additional school-focused nurses in public health units to provide rapid-response support to schools and boards in facilitating public health and preventive measures, including screening, testing, tracing and mitigation strategies.

There will be more than $23 million to provide testing capacity to help keep schools safe, $75 million to hire more than 900 additional custodians and purchase cleaning supplies for schools, $40 million to clean school buses, $10 million for health and safety training for occasional teachers, who have historically not been covered by professional development that is offered to permanent teachers, $10 million to support special needs students in the classroom, and $10 million to support student mental health.

The announcement marked a shift from its June announcement, when the province announced $4 million in net new funding for cleaning, protocols and financial support to hire additional custodial staff in September to ensure schools aren’t breeding grounds for COVID-19 infection.

Some argued at the time the money wasn’t enough and could only last up to three weeks.

"The ministry has indicated it intends to assist with bulk purchasing of items and we will leverage all such opportunities available from the province," YRDSB said, prior to the July 30 announcements.