Toronto boards cancel school

Other GTA kids back to online class today due to snow

Toronto’s public and Catholic boards will keep schools closed on Tuesday because of snow-clogged city streets and concerns about busing safety — but say students won’t be provided with any live, online lessons.

Instead, teachers may post voluntary work online, or students can work on existing assignments.

However, in York Region, the public board said its schools would remain closed Tuesday but students would be provided with live, or “synchronous,” online learning for the day.

The Peel public and Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards also announced their schools would be shuttered Tuesday. Dufferin-Peel said students would “follow their regular daily schedule from bell time to bell time, including lunch and/or recess.”

The Toronto Catholic District School Board said in an email to parents Monday night that given Mayor John Tory’s declaration of a major snowstorm condition, and his asking people to stay home so roads can be cleared, there are “safety concerns around access to school … and about limitations on available buses/drivers and navigating unplowed streets” Tuesday.

School-based child-cares may remain open but parents are asked to check with the providers, the board also said.

On Monday, students in the GTA and other parts of southern Ontario got a snow day or learned online, but elsewhere in the province students were back in school, in person, after almost two weeks of virtual classes.

Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said she was on a call with colleagues around the province on Monday “and we had a good chuckle about it, because all the trustees from the north and from the traditional snowbelt areas were saying ‘now you know what it’s like.’ ”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce, who last week announced that the province’s two million students would be able to get back to class Jan. 17 after a COVID surge forced schools online, told the Star that “while Mother Nature had other plans today, I want to thank all parents, students and staff for their commitment to safety and their patience and vigilance throughout this pandemic.”

It was unclear what other GTA boards would keep schools shuttered Tuesday.

In District School Board One in Timmins, which held in-person classes, director of education Lesleigh Dye said the first day back went “exceptionally well” and that all schools were able to open. “We had 12 inclement weather days before the holidays.”

The board, which had a staffing shortage even before the pandemic, was proactive and for the first time hired supply teachers ahead of time, Dye added.

Staffing is a big concern for all Ontario boards, given the high number of Omicron cases in the community, and given that teachers must stay off if they are sick, or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Liana Holm, president of the Sudbury-based Rainbow local of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said the provincial COVID screening tool led to a number of teachers staying home either with symptoms or because of exposure, and that the board could not get substitute teachers for some classes.

In the Windsor area, where locals report not a flake of snow, attendance at both public and Catholic schools was high.

Stephen Fields of the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board said staff absences were not out of the ordinary for this time of year. “We were able to staff all of our classrooms … and we’re hoping that trend continues.”