Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce gives an update on school closures, April 26, 2020. (CPAC)
The long awaited plan originally set for release sometime in July has officially been sent to school boards across the province.
All students will be allowed to return to the classroom, but parents can still opt for virtual learning as long as 300 minutes of learning is provided.
Masks will be mandatory for all students indoors between Grade 1 and Grade 12, and will remain optional, but recommended, for children in kindergarten.
The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore says for kids in Elementary, students will remain in one cohort for the full day with one teacher.
Members of different cohorts will be allowed to interact outside, with distancing encouraged, or inside with distancing and masks.
Elementary school students will be allowed to use common spaces like libraries and cafeterias.
Specialized education staff, like French teachers, are permitted to go into different classrooms and multiple schools where necessary.
At the high school level, Dr. Moore says students will be returning to the classroom for the full duration of the day, with five instructional hours per day.
He says school boards have been instructed to timetable students with no more than two courses at a time for the fall semester.
There may be exceptions to the two-course rule for small schools where contacts can be limited by cohorting grades.
School buses will be allowed to run at full capacity with masks mandatory for everyone on board.
Meanwhile, all staff and students will be required to self-screen each day for symptoms before arriving at school and anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 must not attend school and must get tested.
Schools and school boards will be required to develop a transportation and cleaning plan as well as ensure all ventilation systems are inspected and in good condition and all safety and cleaning supplies are provided.
Dr. Moore says schools must also implement an inclement weather plan that may include transitioning to remote learning on days when students can’t go to classroom in-person.
School sports and clubs will be allowed to return in September.
Dr. Moore says cohorts can interact with each other.
For inter-school sports, high-contact activities are only allowed outdoors and masking is not required.
Low-contact activities are permitted indoors.
Dr, Moore says masking is encouraged but not required indoors if a minimum distance of two metres can be maintained between individuals who are not part of the same classroom cohort.
Music programs are also permitted in areas with adequate ventilation, such as outdoors or in a gym and this includes singing and the playing of wind instruments.
Dr. Moore notes this plan could change at any time given COVID rates, the Delta variant and local concerns, but is confident this won’t happen before Labour Day.
It could also be altered at any moment throughout the school year.
With files from Vasilios Bellos and Mike Ebbeling
