Students to take test kits home for break

Province expands measures to help ensure safe holidays and smooth return to school in January

Ontario students will spend the winter break taking tests — COVID-19 tests.

Five rapid tests are to be sent home for the holidays with every public school pupil — for a total of 11 million — to be used twice a week during their time off and before they return to class in January, as the colder weather hits and families gather indoors.

Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said “these tests will provide a measure of comfort and convenience over the winter break period” and will provide families peace of mind as they get together for the holidays.

The return to a normal second semester in the new year — unless the area medical officer of health has concerns about local COVID-19 levels — is something boards had been advocatlearning ing for given growing concerns about student engagement and learning with two courses being held one week, switching to another two the next, or the oneclass-at-time octomester.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that “by expanding testing options over the winter holiday, putting in place additional safety measures, and returning to normal timetabling, we are taking action to ensure schools reopen safely while supporting a more positive environment for students.”

The holiday rapid testing is voluntary, and students who decide to take part will be directed to take the tests every three to four days starting Dec. 23, and any positive result will need to be confirmed with a lab-based PCR test.

The province said the rapid test kits have also been offered to First Nations schools, which are federally funded.

On Thursday, Lecce also announced that students who want to take part in high-contact, indoor sports such as basketball and hockey need to take regular rapid tests.

He also said the remainder of federal COVID-19 funding for schools will be handed over to boards, which Abraham said could amount to $1.6 billion and “will allow school boards to continue to responsibly plan for safe and effective mitigation measures for the second half of the school year.”