HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter to the Minister-Reopening January 2022 (1)
Office of the Chair of the Board
14 January 2022
The Honourable Stephen Lecce
Minister of Education
438 University Ave, 5th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1N3
Dear Minister Lecce:
At our Committee of the Whole meeting on 11 January 2022, trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton
District School Board asked me to share a number of specific requests relating to the
reopening of our schools to in-person learning next week. While we appreciate the updated
guidance and information in your memorandum of 12 January 2022, our greatest concerns
remain unaddressed.
First among these is the need for continued tracking and public reporting of confirmed
and suspected COVID-19 cases in schools by local Public Health Units. Reporting rates
of absenteeism is an imprecise and inadequate proxy for understanding the prevalence of
Covid-19 cases in schools. An article in today’s Toronto Star, by Isabel Teotonio, entitled
“Thousands of students are ‘no shows’ after forced switch to remote learning,” illustrated the
wide range of reasons currently being offered for student absences, the vast majority of which
do not reference illness. Families should not have to rely on uninformative absence reports or
on community rumour to determine whether or not a child may have been exposed to COVID-
19 infection at school, or whether the risk of exposure to COVID-19 at a school exceeds their
family risk tolerance in light of other family members who have unique vulnerabilities to the
virus.
Tracking and reporting the incidence of COVID-19 cases associated with schools requires the
availability of tests. Students and staff must have access to PCR testing in instances of
high-risk exposure and suspected COVID-19. In addition, our schools need continued
funding for and supplies of rapid antigen tests for all students and staff, in support of
implementing a “Test to Return” strategy following COVID-19 illness or exposure. The
PCR tests should be available to asymptomatic individuals with high-risk exposure as well as
to symptomatic individuals with suspected COVID-19 infections.
We appreciate your decision to provide non-fit-tested N95 masks as an optional alternative to
medical masks for school staff, but we believe that medical masks and non-fit-tested N95
masks should also be provided and funded as an option for students. In addition, it is
imperative that any provided masks come in a full range of sizes to ensure optimum
effectiveness for both children and adults.
As we and other school boards have requested previously, we would like to see a long-term
commitment to adequate funding for upgrades to school ventilation systems, beyond
providing additional portable HEPA filter units, in the interests of the long-term protection of
the health of students and staff. We welcome any increases to funding for vital school facility
improvements, but at this time, replacing outdated HVAC systems and retrofitting schools
built before mechanical ventilation systems were commonplace must be highlighted as
significant needs.
Finally, we would appreciate confirmation that additional funding will be provided to
cover any COVID-related expenses that cannot be funded through current planned
budgets. While the Grants for Student Needs for 2021-2022 included some additional
funding, the Omicron variant has created new budget pressures.
Sincerely,
Lynn Scott
Chair, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
cc: Dr. Vera Etches, Medical Officer of Health, Ottawa Public Health
Cathy Abraham, President, OPSBA
W.R. (Rusty) Hick, Executive Director, OPSBA
T.J Goertz, Senior Communication and Policy Officer
OPSBA and All English Public Chairs
Trustees, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
Senior Staff, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
Corporate Records
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