Several schools may be affected as music teacher tests positive

Students from two classes at St. Demetrius Catholic school in Toronto are in isolation for 14 days after a music teacher, who rotates among multiple schools, tested positive for COVID-19.

Several classes in up to six schools in total may be affected, said Markus de Domenico, the Toronto Catholic board trustee for Ward 2 in Etobicoke, where St. Demetrius is located.

Toronto Public Health alerted families on the weekend, he said, and the notice recommends parents of the Grade 5 and 6 students get their child tested for COVID-19 while in isolation, whether they have symptoms or not.

The board has continued using travelling, or itinerant, teachers to instruct students in gym, music and French during the pandemic, a plan that was approved by the Ministry of Education, said de Domenico.

But at a board meeting Thursday, the trustee moved a motion that was passed to have staff sit down with union representatives to see if there’s a way to limit the teachers to one school.

“It makes no sense to me at all,” said de Domenico. “I look at it like personal support workers in our seniors’ homes.”

PSWs were stopped from working in multiple long-term-care facilities in April after an emergency order from

Premier Doug Ford.

“The work they do is extremely important,” said de Domenico of the teachers. “I’m just saying … to the board that we really need to not have this happen now.”

An itinerant teacher can visit between five and 10 schools a week, he said.

Not having music or French teachers will complicate not only instruction in those subjects, but how teachers will get their 240 minutes of prep time a week, which is often scheduled when the itinerant teachers are there.

De Domenico said he’s hopeful the unions that represent Toronto Catholic elementary and secondary teachers will be able to come up with a solution, which could be as early as the next board meeting Thursday.

Two other schools in de Domenico’s ward have suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, including St. Gregory Catholic school on Rathburn Road where there is one case, as well as a “few” cases at Michael Power-St. Joseph, a Catholic secondary school on Eringate Drive. De Domenico said that so far he doesn’t think the virus has been spreading in schools, but said “I think it would be fair to presume most people are bringing it into schools.”

As of Friday, 318 of 4,828 schools across the province were reporting COVID-19 cases, with a total of 483 cases.