Ontario schools get $381M for pandemic spending
As elementary and secondary students in Ottawa went back to in-person classes Monday, Ontario boards were given a welcome infusion of cash from the federal government to improve public-health measures and pandemic schooling.
The province announced how it will spend another $381 million received as the second half of the federal government's “safe return to class fund” for Ontario.
The largest categories are $80 million for laptops and other technology; $64.5 million for PPE and other health and safety measures; $62 million for summer school; $60 million to develop online learning, including an elementary digital curriculum; $50 million to improve school ventilation; $33 million to be spent in COVID-19 hot spots; and $10 million each for school nutrition and mental health.
The Ontario government also announced that university students training to be teachers will be allowed to work as occasional teachers to help ease a shortage at some boards.
As many as 2,000 education students may be deployed in the province's schools, said government officials at a briefing.
Some boards have also found it difficult to find teachers for longer-term contracts.
About 3,400 more teachers have
been hired this year in Ontario, an increase of about two per cent, according to government officials, and boards are still seeking another 890 teachers.
The government has been under considerable pressure since schools reopened in September to reduce class sizes to improve physical distancing.
The province didn't change regulated class sizes for elementary students this year, while high schools in urban areas like Ottawa shifted to part-time, in-person classes of about 15 students.
However, boards have been able to cut class sizes in all grades, said government officials. The reduction varies by board, and no statistics were provided.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, for instance, made in-person classes in elementary schools smaller by increasing the size of classes at virtual schools and using COVID-19 grants.
Toronto boards were able to use a combination of COVID -19 grants and their own reserve funds to hire more teachers.
The government also offered a few more details Monday about the plan to offer COVID-19 testing at schools for asymptomatic students, staff and families.
There will be “a capacity of up to 50,000” tests a week, with half of them the usual nasal swab and the other half rapid tests, said Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Testing will be targeted and at the discretion of local public health units.
It's unclear when the 50,000 capacity will be reached, but Lecce suggested it would be sometime after all schools reopen for in-person learning.
Critics have called for widespread asymptomatic testing to determine the prevalence of COVID -19 at schools, control outbreaks and gain a better understanding of transmission patterns.
Across the province, 280,000 students are now back at school of the total of about 1.5 million elementary and secondary students studying in person this year. Ottawa students returned Monday after six weeks at home — two of them for Christmas holidays and four weeks of remote learning.
Students remain learning remotely at home in part of southern Ontario, including the COVID-19 hot spots of Toronto, York, Peel, Windsor and Hamilton. Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams said he was “hopeful” they could return to schools on Feb. 10. Lecce said on Twitter that he will make an announcement about school reopenings on Wednesday based on advice from Williams.
Some schools in rural boards remain closed even as their community rates of COVID-19 are lower than in Ottawa and other areas that were allowed to open.
When asked at a press conference what benchmarks were used by the province to make those decisions, Williams said there were no “exact numbers per se,” but he looks at community transmission of the virus, trends, the ability of the health unit to conduct testing and the opinion of the local medical officer of health.
In Brant County health unit, four instance, which includes Brantford, the medical officer of health was not comfortable reopening schools this week, while Dr. Vera Etches in Ottawa strongly supported a return to in-person learning, he said.
Public health officials are also pleading with parents to have any child with even mild symptoms tested at the regular COVID-19 assessment centres.
Testing among school-aged children has dropped in Ottawa during the time children were at home.
Etches has warned that the number of children testing positive for the virus will probably initially increase as students return to schools and more testing is conducted.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board reported Monday that two students and six staff currently have COVID-19, with one classroom closed by public health at Greely Elementary School. (Schools have remained open for special-education students who have difficulty learning remotely.)
The other Ottawa boards had not updated their COVID -19 case data on Monday.
Critics have called for widespread asymptomatic testing to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 at schools