Teachers refuse to work after outbreak
Scarborough elementary school reports 9 staff, 2 students tested positive
Teachers at a Scarborough elementary school refused to work Monday over fears for their safety after the school remained open despite a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.
Toronto Public Health declared an outbreak at Glamorgan Junior Public School on Friday after nine staff and two students tested positive for the virus.
According to public health, 58 students at the school, near Kennedy Road and Highway 401, have been asked to self-isolate as a precaution.
The school remains open, with replacement staff, because most of the cases are believed to be linked to a single wing of the building.
Laura Walton, president of CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions, told the Star that teachers have the right to refuse work if they feel unsafe.
“These are the steps that the staff are taking, not just for themselves as the workers, but also to bring awareness to the situation to keep our staff and students safe,” Walton said.
The 32 staff members who refused to work were 25 teachers, three educational assistants/ special needs assistants and four early childhood educators.
Shari Schwartz-Maltz, manager of media relations for the Toronto District School Board, told the Star that 10 positive cases were in a single wing of the school, the other in the main area.
“We’ve gone in and done enhanced cleaning and it’s being determined that all our health and safety protocols are being followed and so the school remains open,” Schwartz-Maltz said.
Among the replacement staff were four vice-principals from neighbouring schools, three lunch room supervisors and one temporary teacher. The school’s principal and viceprincipal were also teaching classes.
Schwartz-Maltz told the Star that the Ministry of Labour determined that it was safe to work last week.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, was asked why Glamorgan Junior remained open, while Mason Road Junior P.S. was closed after four confirmed cases.
“There is an investigation that happens. It’s a question of whether there is a risk of transmission or risks that need to be accounted for within the school setting. Each investigation is going to be a little bit different,” de Villa told reporters at a news conference.
“One has to look at the specifics of the situation in the school, determine whether there is risk, or risk of transmission that has been identified, and make appropriate decisions premised on what you find through that investigation.”
Mary Unan of CUPE said the labour ministry is now investigating to see if there were reasonable grounds for Monday’s work refusal.
Before the pandemic, 548 students attended the school, which dropped to 278 during COVID-19.
On Monday morning, 186 students showed up, but parents were taking their kids home throughout the day.
The work refusal comes as Ontario is reporting an additional 71new cases of COVID-19 in public schools across the province. This brings the total number of cases in the last two weeks to 892 and 2,230 overall since school began.
In its latest data released Monday morning, the province reported 41more students were infected for a total of 480 in the last two weeks; since school began there have been an overall total of 1,238.
The data shows there are eight more staff members infected for a total of 88 in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 295. The latest report also shows 22 more infected individuals who weren’t identified for a total of 324 in that category in the last two weeks — and an overall total of 697.
There are 558 schools with a reported case, which the province notes is about11.56 per cent of the 4,828 public schools in Ontario.
Elder’s Mills Public School, a French-immersion elementary school in Woodbridge, closed Monday after seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the first such closure in Ontario in a week. The school is set to reopen on Nov. 11.
There is a lag between the daily provincial data at 10:30 a.m. and news reports about infections in schools. The provincial data on Monday is current as of 2 p.m. Friday and don’t include reports from the weekend. It also doesn’t indicate where the place of transmission occurred.
The Toronto District School Board updates its information on current COVID-19 cases throughout the day on its website. As of Monday at 10:30 a.m., there were 180 TDSB schools with at least one active case — 250 students and 58 staff.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board also updates its information on its website. As of Monday at 10:05 a.m., there were 99 schools with at least one confirmed case — 71 students and 14 staff.
Epidemiologists have told the Star that the rising numbers in the schools aren’t a surprise, and that the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID that is in the community. Ontario reported 948 new cases overall on Monday — 315 in Toronto, 269 in Peel, 81 in York Region and 64 in Ottawa.