Back to school update at our Board meeting! All students are now back in school, orientations complete. We’re so glad to have them back! Working with city & Archdiocese to secure space in churches, parks and community centres. #topoli#onpoli#onted
Permits for Community Use of Schools are suspended for October. Staff working on process for some access for November. Communicating with permit applicants. #topoli#onpoli#onted
HR working hard to recruit new hires, fill LTOs and assign 900 teachers for virtual school. Dealing with staging figures with a fluid student population that has been switching from face to face to virtual, and vice versa. #topoli#onpoli#onted
Adding teachers to Virtual school, looking in particular for Spec Ed and French Immersion. French in virtual school remains a challenge due to staffing. #topoli#onpoli#onted
.@TCDSBdirector has noted that recruitment of French teachers continues to be a challenge province wide.
We have acquired 500 HEPA air purifiers. The 36 schools without any ventilation will receive them first. St Mary is one such school without ventilation. Next priority will be 5th quintile schools. #topoli#onpoli#onted
We have acquired some electrostatic sprayers that help with aerosol disinfection. We are reviewing clear masks that are medical grade. Currently back ordered. Ordering 200 masks for DHH students and teachers for a pilot. #topoli#onpoli#onted
We ran all ventilation systems for 3 days prior to school opening, and run the ventilation systems for 2 hours before school start and 2 hours after. #topoli#onpoli#onted
We’ve ordered 5000 plexiglass shields for students. They will go first to the 5th quintile schools. Office and admin plexiglass will he installed by end of week. #topoli#onpoli#onted
Playgrounds will be reopened shortly at our schools, one cohort at a time. Yay!
TPH has provided a list of COVID-19 Public Health Nurses (PHN) available on their website. You can also see which nurse is assigned to your school here: toronto.ca/community-peop…#onted
Parent committees will be able to fundraise for water bottles, logoed cloth masks self directed. For portable hand washing stations, portable air purifiers they will need to work with superintendent. #topoli#onpoli#onted
Transportation: We started by only transporting spec Ed students this week. Next week we start with all students. There will likely not be transportation services for 5-10% of students. Please consider walking or cycling! #topoli#onpoli#onted
Schools are reaching out to students in the virtual school to confirm device and internet service requests. We have a limited # of devices, 2500 chrome books and 400 iPads. We are prioritizing by those most in need. We have loaned 10,500 computers to students last spring.
We are trying to link up students and teachers from their homeschool for the virtual school. We had a great start to the year for our virtual school @TCDSBVS! Extended French, FI and IB will be a significant challenge.
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.@m_layton asks @ BOH should masks be worn in schools? Dr. De Villa responds that masks in schools are provincial jurisdiction. Her advice is due to being in a period of high covid19 activity we should use all tools. She highly recommends masks in school. #topoli#onpoli#onted
.@m_layton asks why TPH doesn’t have the authority to impose masks in school? Dr. De Villa notes the province has made clear that schools are their purview. They have some leeway at a school level to impose masking.
.@KateMMulligan asks about the PHO report that suggests reimplementing mandatory mask mandates is recommended. What can TPH do and not do with respect to mask mandates? Dr. De Villa notes risk profile will go up and down going forward. Recommends masks now. #topoli
Dr. Juni says we’re noticing increases in wastewater and other signals. Notes the lifting of mask mandates was too soon, done in the absence of supporting data. #topoli#onpoli
Will livetweet Minister Lecce's back to school presser, set to start 1:30, on this thread. You can tune in here: #topoli#onpoli#Onted
And we're 10 minutes late.
Minister Lecce up, thanks Dr. Moore. Acknowledges difficulty families are facing, notes that students should be in school. Pivots were required to ensure community safety. Confirms back to school on January 17th.
First Q at Minister Elliott's presser is about schools. What health data has led to the conclusion to reopen schools? Minister Elliott responds she knows schools are good for students, notes govt has done everything they can to make schools safe, doesn't answer Q. #onpoli#onted
Why not make PCR tests available to students, staff and daycare to increase their level of confidence that schools are safe? Minister Elliott notes PCR tests will be available for symptomatic students & staff. 3.5 million RATs have been received & are off to schools. #Onted
Matt Anderson notes that the demand for PCR tests have dropped since they changed testing requirements, now can redirect PCR tests to schools.