[GTranslate]A boom of infections. Never before so many cases of Covid-19 in Ontario schools as yesterday: 409 cases of which 333 are students, 75 teachers and one is a non-teaching staff member. From 921 to 997 schools where there is currently an outbreak of the virus while schools closed rise from 44 to 48.
With infections rising and teacher absences, the school boards are increasingly in difficulty to the point that the principals, supply teachers and even the lunchroom supervisors have been called in to replace them momentarily.
These are two stumbling blocks that have prompted Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers (TECT) to vehemently demand that some of its schools in hotspots are closed down and students transferred to online learning. “The situation is becoming untenable, there are not enough substitutes to cover the absences of teachers – said the president of the union Julie Altomare-Di Nunzio – principals, music teachers and even staff in charge of overseeing the lunchroom are taking their place”. In the past, explains Altomare-Di Nunzio, principals could merge classes to help reduce the need for supply teachers but with Covid, it is not possible to mix children from different groups.
Meanwhile, in the Catholic department of Dufferin-Peel, three staff members – including two teachers, one of whom is now in an induced coma, and a lunchroom supervisor – were hospitalized following a Covid-19 outbreak at St. Sofia School in Mississauga. Reporting it to the Toronto Star was a source who asked to remain anonymous.
St. Sofia is part of the Dufferin-Peel department, which was recently forced to close 11 schools due to Covid-19 and staff shortages. The outbreak at the school, at its peak, infected seven staff members and 10 students, but as of Monday, cases have dropped to four students and three employees.
St. Charles Garnier Catholic School in North York was also closed by Toronto Public Health following an outbreak that infected a total of six workers and three students.
Neo-Democratic MP Marit Stiles also attacked the Ford government’s actions in this regard. Stiles said that with 500 children tested positive for the virus every week, frontline workers in schools do not see new support and asymptomatic tests have not met the target of 50,000 tests a week as promised by Minister Lecce. “The time for half measures is definitely over, ” said Stiles resolutely.
And while the situation according to the teachers is very serious, the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce continues to see the glass half full. Lecce said more than 99% of schools remain open and said that he had spoken with health officials in Peel, Toronto and Ottawa, who “confirmed that ongoing infection prevention protocols have helped keep schools safe.”
Shazia Vlahos of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) said the public health unit is soliciting testing at Our Lady of Victory and other facilities where outbreaks of the virus have been discovered. “Like many provincial providers, the Toronto Catholic District School Board continues to strengthen its list of supply teachers but continues to struggle to address the challenges associated with increasing teacher absences, greater incidences of short-term sick leave, and the unwillingness of available occasional teachers to accept daily jobs during this pandemic,” Ms. Vlahos said.
