The Ontario government has released its plan for the safe reopening of schools.
A news release sent out by MPP Christine Hogarth on July 30 said schools for in-class instruction will begin in September and students from Grades 4 – 12 will be required to wear masks.
Education officials say Kindergarten to Grade 8 will reopen with in-class instruction five days a week. Secondary schools with lower risk will reopen with a normal daily schedule, five days a week, while most secondary schools will start the year in an adapted model of part-time attendance with class cohorts of up to 15 students alternating between attending in-person and online.
Details on the safe restart of the school year were released by Premier Doug Ford, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, and Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health.
They said parents will continue to have the option to enroll their children in ‘remote delivery, which respects their fundamental role in making the final determination of whether they feel safe with their children returning to school.’
The government said they will be spending $300 million in targeted public health protocols to keep staff safe when they return to school.
Some $60 million will be spent to procure medical and cloth masks for students and staff; $30 million for teacher staffing to support supervision in keeping classes small; $50 million to hire up to 500 additional and school-focused nurses in public health units to provide rapid-response to schools and boards.
About $75 million will be spent to hire 500 additional custodians and purchase cleaning supplies; $23 million for testing: $40 million to clean buses; $10 million for health and safety training for occasional teachers: $10 million for support special needs students and $10 million to support student mental health.
Some $15 million in technology funding to support the procurement of over 35,000 devices for Ontario’s students to support their synchronous learning in-school and beyond.
“We are seeing that overall instances of COVID-19 are declining in Ontario,” said Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health. “We believe that with the appropriate measures and strategies in place to handle potential outbreaks and prevent spread, schools are expected to be a safe place for Ontario’s students and staff who attend.”
Officials said there are protocols in place for school officials to deal with the positive cases of COVID-19 among students, parents, teachers or staff.
About two million students attend public schools in Ontario.