The Ontario government says it will let parents know on Wednesday when to expect their children’s schools to reopen.

In a tweet Monday afternoon, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province will have its final advice on the matter by the middle of the week.

“The Chief Medical Officer of Health confirmed to Premier ‪@fordnation & I that on Wednesday he will finalize his advice,” Lecce wrote. “The Government will provide certainty parents deserve by announcing on Wednesday the dates for reopening.”

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said Monday that he would like see all schools in the province reopen next week but will be seeking input from each region’s medical officer of health before finalizing any plans.

“I’m hoping that by next week, the week of the 8th of February, to have our schools open across the province,” he told reporters on Monday afternoon.

“So that’s the goal we are striving for but I want to make sure that is done in full consultation with medical officers so that they are agreeing that yes we are ready for it, we can handle that.”

Earlier in the day, Williams suggested that the province was still assessing the data and had not yet made a decision about when schools in the hot spots could reopen.

“We are looking at the data. Our major concern was as we were approaching lifting or dealing with the stay-at-home order, we were dealing with back at that time very high community transmission. Many health units were well over 200 per 100,000. Much higher than we were when we came into the festive holiday season break,” he said at a news conference on Monday morning.

“We had waited to see if the Boxing Day lockdown would have greater effect and during the holidays it didn’t but now over the last number of weeks we are seeing the numbers come down very quickly.”

He said local medical officers of health in each region will have an important role to play in the decision on whether schools can reopen.

“In the case of Brant (County Public Health Unit), we discussed it with the medical officer of health, who was not comfortable at this time to open and we respected that opinion,” Williams said. “Ottawa… was more than eager.”

Students in four more public health units, including Ottawa, Middlesex-London, Eastern Ontario, and the Southwestern Public Health Unit, returned to in-person instruction starting today.

In total, 520,000 of about two million students in the province have now been permitted to return to in-person learning, including all students in northern Ontario.

The Ford government previously said students and parents in Toronto, Peel Region, Hamilton, York Region, and Windsor will have to wait until at least Feb. 10 for schools to reopen.

The province has said enhanced public health measures are now in place for students returning to in-person learning, including stricter masking protocols for students in grades one to three, increased access to targeted asymptomatic testing, and stronger screening measures.

“We want to see with the medical officers of health, their plans, to say opening now on the 10th, what do you have all in place? Are you satisfied that you feel… that schools should open and that you have the backup systems and things in place to assess any situation as assertively and quickly as possible?” Williams added.

“We don’t want transmission in the schools. So we want to keep that out… We are asking our medical officers of health, get that in place. Are you ready say for the 10th? If you’re all ready, including the hot spots, then we are ready.”

At a news conference on Monday afternoon, Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa would not say if she supports reopening schools in the city on Feb. 10.

"As soon as we can get our children back to school in a safe manner... that's what we are looking for. We are having active conversations about what enhancements might be put forward to help promote an even safer environment," she said. 

"This is a conversation that is ongoing and we are very, very keen to work with our provincial counterparts."

When asked about the possibility of cancelling March Break this year to give students more time to catch up, Lecce said it is something the province is considering.

“’With respect to March Break, we have sought the expert advice of the chief medical officer of health and we will providing parents with sufficient notice on that decision," he said on Monday.

Student teachers can now be hired in Ont. classrooms

Lecce also announced Monday that the province will now allow university students in teacher education programs to fill in at Ontario schools that are seeing teacher shortages due to the pandemic.

A new temporary teaching certificate will now be available for eligible teacher candidates who are currently enrolled in an Ontario Initial Teacher Education program, have successfully completed a portion of the practicum, are making satisfactory progress in their program, and expect to complete the program by Dec. 31, 2021.

Provincial officials said Monday that the policy change comes as some school boards, particularly in areas with high levels of COVID-19 transmission, have experienced teacher shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

School boards can hire those with these temporary certificates when no occasional teachers are available on their list. 

Eligible educators from outside Ontario will also be able to apply for temporary certificates, which will expire on Dec. 31, 2021.

During Monday’s news conference, the Ford government also announced how it plans to spend the second tranche of federal funding allocated to the province for the safe reopening of schools.

Of the $381 million that will flow from Ottawa, nearly $65 million will be spent on health and safety funding for transportation and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), $62 million for summer learning, $60 million for online learning, including the development of digital course content and technological supports, and $80 million for the purchase of additional devices, such as laptops and tablets.

Another $50 million will be used to purchase portable HEPA filters and implement other measure to improve air quality and ventilation. The province confirmed $33 million will be set aside for additional measures to support hot spot communities.

The province will be informing school boards about funding allocations today, officials confirmed.

Province provides more details on asymptomatic testing  

The province provided more details Monday about its rollout of targeted asymptomatic testing at schools across the province.

Officials said public health units across Ontario will be responsible for identifying schools where voluntary targeted asymptomatic testing should be conducted.

According to officials, the province will eventually have the capacity to process 50,000 tests per week as part of its asymptomatic testing initiative at schools.

Both full PCR and rapid tests will be used for the testing, officials say.

An estimated 9,000 tests were conducted during a four-week asymptomatic testing pilot project launched late last year at 63 schools in Toronto, Ottawa, Peel Region, and York Region.

The province confirmed Monday that in “over 50 per cent” of those schools, no new cases were identified.

In total, 227 cases were unearthed during the pilot, which represents approximately 2.5 per cent of all tests.

Officials say 132 cases were attributed to members of households, 83 cases were attributed to students, and 12 cases were attributed to staff.