Secondary students with the York Catholic District School Board will be moved to remote learning only for the final three days of instruction before the holiday break.
The board says that a “cohort flip” was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, meaning that students would begin attending in-person classes with a new cohort of classmates that they had previously been learning online with.
The board, however, says that it has decided to begin the new cohort schedule remotely “so that students and staff will not be exposed to additional contacts prior to Christmas.”
The change is not expected to impact instruction at YCDSB elementary schools.
“As always, the health and safety of our students, staff and their families is our top-priority. This is a proactive measure we are taking to help keep our students safe,” the board said in a statement.
News that the YCDSB would change to remote-only instruction for its secondary school students on Dec. 16-18 comes after the medical officer of health in Windsor ordered all schools to switch to remote only instruction for the final week of classes before the holiday break.
It also comes as six additional TDSB schools officially switched to online learning only until January due to positive cases among staff and students.
The latest closures push the number of Toronto schools shuttered due to COVID-19 outbreaks up to 13. That is the highest that number has been at any point this school year.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen De Villa, however, said on Monday that parents “need not fear” about COVID-19 transmission in schools if they are being careful.
She said that right now Toronto Public Health staff are continuing to find that new cases amongst the student population are still “largely due to COVID-19 being acquired outside of school rather than within it” but when it is determined that further action is needed officials have and will continue to act.
She also said that “there isn’t a decision that has landed yet” on whether schools may be closed for a period of time following the holiday break, as TDSB education workers have called for.
“I know it is worrying to hear about additional school closures even if it doesn’t affect your school. We have found that when an outbreak is linked to a school it involves an average of about five cases. I hope it provides some measure of confidence when I say at present the total number of schools closed is 13,” she said. “While one is more than anyone wants, 13 is the present total out of roughly 1,200 schools in Toronto. We have acted to close schools where it was needed and worked to ensure the hundred of schools still able to be open are open safely. But as I have said before while we supports schools open it isn’t at any cost.”
The six additional TDSB schools that were ordered to close this weekend include City Adult Learning Centre, Humewood Community School, RH McGregor Elementary School, David Lewis Public School, Grenoble Public School, and Oakridge Junior Public School.
There are currently a combined 32 cases associated with the six schools.
There are also 32 cases associated with Thorncliffe Park Public School, where the testing of asymptomatic students led to dozens of positives. That school has also been ordered to close until Jan. 4 along with the adjoining Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy.
The TDSB said Monday evening that Humber Summit Middle School would be closed as of Tuesday December 15 due to COVID-19. The board said the school, would resume after winter break on Jan. 4.
“School being open is a good thing, for kids, for parents and for the community as a whole but it should not be done t any and all cost it must be done in manner that promotes the health and safety of the children at the schools, the staff that work in those schools and ultimately what that means is community health writ large,” de Villa said on Monday. “As situations come to our attention and as assessments determine that there is further action that is needed whether it is certain cohorts being dismissed or an entire school that needs to be dismissed they will make the decisions premised on the specifics of each and every circumstance.”
While de Villa said that there are no plans “at this point” to order any further school closures before the holiday break begins at the end of the week, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird did tell CP24 earlier in the day that he wouldn’t be surprised if that were to happen.
“I do think it is possible (there will be more closures) but we will have to wait and see. We are not aware of any one that are pending, for example, but I think we could expect some more this week,” he said. “We really have to take the best medical advice from Toronto Public Health as they look at all the data as we head into the break.”
There have been 6,356 cases of COVID-19 reported at Ontario schools since September.
About 18 per cent of all public schools in the province have had at least one confirmed case.
