Schools prepare to reopen with added screening as they await provincial decision

As COVID-19 infections rise across Ontario, the Waterloo Region District School Board is preparing for in-person classes with additional screening requirements while awaiting word from the province on if schools will reopen in the new year.

If students go back, it's into high community transmission: epidemiology student

Max Leighton · CBC News · Posted: Dec 30, 2021 6:16 AM EST | Last Updated: December 30, 2021

Elementary school students work at their desks while wearing medical masks. — Children wear masks while sitting at their desks in a physical classroom. The Waterloo Region District School Board is preparing for a return to school next week with additional scanning requirements, but is awaiting provincial guidance on whether Ontario schools will reopen at all. (James Arthur Gekiere/Belga Mag/AFP/Getty Images)

As COVID-19 infections rise across Ontario, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) is preparing for in-person classes with additional screening requirements while awaiting word from the province on if schools will reopen in the new year.

On Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford said cabinet would meet soon and an announcement would come in the next couple days about whether schools would reopen for in-person learning after the Christmas break.

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for the WRDSB said the board is complying with a direction from the Ministry of Education, asking school boards to verify the daily screening of all students, staff and essential visitors for the first two weeks of January.

New screening rules

In elementary schools, the board said parents will still be required to complete the province's student COVID-19 screening, which will now have to be initialled by school staff, while secondary school students will log in to a web portal to complete their scan.

Schools will develop their own protocols to respond to students who have not completed the verification, said the board.

The board said it will follow the same safety measures it has used this academic year to date, including providing ventilation and sanitizing, and requiring masks and handwashing.

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Meanwhile, board representatives say they are also preparing for the possibility of a return to remote learning. Students were equipped with computers, if needed, and in a memo earlier this month, the board said staff have prepared schools to "ensure a smooth transition, if required."

"Given the rise in cases and our concerns for the health of staff, students and their families, the (WRDSB) is proactively preparing for the possibility of a move to a remote learning scenario in the new year," the board said.

Uncertainty has parents concerned

The uncertainty about whether schools will reopen after the winter holidays has some parents concerned.

"If schools are opened as scheduled, we will be sending our kids back to school with extremely high levels of community transmission," Gabrielle Brankston, a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Guelph and mother of three, told CBC's Metro Morning. "The sheer volume of cases so far has already impaired case detection and contact tracing."

Brankston said that if the province decides to postpone a return to in-person classes, it would leave little time for parents to make alternate arrangements for their kids, something she said could disproportionately affect lower-income families.

"If we're not going to hear for another two days, we have three days to prepare our kids for online learning, and teachers to prepare for online lessons," she said. "It's a big switch."