MARCH BREAK POSTPONED

Critics give move failing grade

Ontario's March school break has been postponed until the middle of April, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Thursday.

Lecce said he made the difficult decision to ensure elementary and secondary schools remain safe as students returned to in-person learning across the province.

The news was greeted with dismay by those who had urged the government to go ahead with the break as planned because students and education workers have been stressed and exhausted after a year of pandemic schooling.

The five major education unions condemned the decision.

It's “another example of this government ignoring experts and making decisions that are reckless and baseless,” said a joint statement from unions representing English public, Catholic and French-language teachers and many other education workers.

“These are unprecedented times, and this is a much-needed break for students, teachers, education workers and families who have been under tremendous pressure throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The president of the union representing most non-teaching staff at schools said the break was meant to help everyone recharge.

Lecce said the decision was based on the advice of Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, and was supported by some local medical officers of health.

The break has been moved to April 12-16 from March 15-19.

Lecce said the government wanted to avoid a repeat of the spike in cases after the Christmas break. Gatherings during that holiday contributed to a rise in community transmission of the virus, he said.

Ontario can't take that risk again, especially with the emergence of new variants of the virus, he added.

A sobering message about the dangers presented by the U.K. variant spreading in Ontario was delivered by Adalsteinn Brown, cochair of the province's COVID-19 science advisory table.

The provincial COVID -19 trends are good, with declines in cases, test positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths in long-term care homes, Brown, who is dean of the

Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, said during a media conference.

However, that could be reversed quickly in the coming weeks by the U.K. variant of the virus, which is about 50 per cent more transmissible, he said.

If Ontario maintains its current trajectory, the number of daily cases could rise to 5,000 to 6,000 a day by the end of March, Brown said. As of Thursday, the seven-day average stood at 1,264 cases a day.

Faiz Jan, a Grade 12 student at Colonel By Secondary School who is president of an Ontario student group, said the postponement of March Break reflected a “lapse in logic.”

The government said it feared that families would mingle and travel during the break, exacerbating spread of the virus, he said.

“Why wouldn't the same thing happen if you moved it to April?” Jan said.

In fact, if the U.K. variant does explode, community transmission of COVID-19 may be worse in April, said Jan, president of the Rideau Students' Union, a group formed in December to promote education policy discussions among Ontario students.

Students need a mental health break, Jan said. The change will also disrupt academic planning, he said.

Annie Kidder, the executive director of People for Education, a non-profit group that promotes public education in Ontario, also questioned the government's rationale. “If it is advice from the medical community that is driving the decision to cancel March Break then why aren't universities and colleges being told to cancel their breaks?” Kidder posted on social media.

The president of the association representing trustees at English Catholic schools, Patrick Daly, said the group acknowledged that staff, parents and students needed a break. However, “we appreciate the magnitude of the decision” and “support public health and government officials who are entrusted to make a decision in the best interests of Ontarians,” he said in a statement.

Travel during the March school break last year was blamed for escalating the first wave of the pandemic.

The advice not to travel outside Canada remains in place and the federal government has beefed up efforts to discourage travel.