Opening schools a ‘challenge,’ Ford says
Government accused of not hiring enough teachers, custodians
Opening schools this fall will be a “challenge,” but the decision to have most of Ontario’s two million students back in class full-time was based on the best medical advice, says Premier Doug Ford.
Speaking Friday at Queen’s Park, Ford said the province is spending $309 million to help school boards with their COVID-19 costs this fall.
“So we’re putting the money in there, but I’m the first to admit … are we going to face a challenge? I’m sure we’re going to face a challenge. But did we get the best medical advice we could ever get from some of the smartest minds in the country? Yes we did.”
Ford’s comments came a day after he and Education Minister Stephen Lecce unveiled the province’s plan for all elementary students to return to school full time and most high school students to do so as well. Students will be required to wear masks all day, starting in Grade 4. Younger children are encouraged to do so.
The government was criticized, however, for leaving class sizes in elementary schools as they are, meaning upward of 30 children in kindergarten or the upper grades. Classes from Grades 1 to 3 are, for the most part, capped at 20 students.
Unions and opposition critics accused the government of adopting a “bargain basement” plan and not spending enough to hire the appropriate number of teachers and custodians to keep classes smaller, a step experts have called critical to limiting kids’ contacts and the spread of COVID-19.
Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said schools will be taking a number of measures, including masks for older children, regular hand hygiene and sanitizing and asking sick students to stay home.
“Everything contributes to maintaining health, and we’ll have to see how it goes and monitor how we can improve things as we go along,” Yaffe said.
Yaffe also said her office has worked through a number of potential situations with the Ministry of Education “so that schools will be able to understand what could happen if there is a case because there’s a lot of concern and anxiety.”
She said families will be urged to keep children home if they show any symptoms, but if symptoms appear when kids are at school, then “the teachers and the staff will be trained on how to isolate the child quickly, notify their caregiver if it’s a young child, possibly test them if there’s consent and if there’s ability, or send them for testing with the parent.”
If someone does have COVID, the child’s teacher and class will be tested, and the whole class could potentially be asked to quarantine. It is unlikely an entire school would ever be shut down, she added.
“If we have two cases in the same class, it’s the same as with one case. But what if we start to have cases in separate classes, the first question will be are they linked to each other? They might be friends. They might be siblings in different grades. And trying to investigate it, do we think they actually infected each other somewhere outside of the school? In which case, the fact they’re in different classes may not be as relevant. But if we find they actually infected each other at school somehow, then we’re looking at two classrooms and following them up,” Yaffe said.
“It would be extremely rare, in consultation with public health, that a whole school would need to be closed. … Obviously, there could be circumstances, if it’s widespread. But I want to reassure people we will take every potential case very seriously, investigate them, make sure that contacts are identified and isolated and tested, so that we can make sure people stay as healthy as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Toronto District School Board announced that its interim director, Carlene Jackson, will leave in October to become the province’s first comptroller general and deputy minister in the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Jackson replaced director John Malloy, who left to run a school board in the San Francisco area.
It is unlikely the Toronto board will have hired a director by this fall, so another interim will have to be appointed.
Jackson, who has headed the board’s COVID planning and budget processes, has an MBA and is a chartered professional accountant.
In an email to staff, Jackson said, “Since 2017, I have had the honour of working alongside trustees, staff and school communities to overcome challenges, achieve goals and support the many students, parents and staff that make up the largest school board in Canada. It has been an honour to serve as an associate director and most recently as the interim director of education.”
Long-serving board chair Robin Pilkey is also stepping down and will be replaced by a vote of trustees in August.