A new voluntary COVID-19 reporting system is being developed to fill the void left when the province stopped sharing that information online, says the London region’s largest school board.
Parents could soon have a way to report if their children don’t pass a daily COVID 19 screening or test positive, the Thames Valley District school board says.
The board says it’s developing a voluntary COVID-19 reporting system to fill the void left when the province stopped sharing information about cases in schools.
Parents would be able to report if their child doesn’t pass the COVID-19 screening they are required to complete before attending in-person learning. The screening contains questions about COVID-19 symptoms and a child’s household.
As well, parents would be able to report a positive COVID test.
“Our hope is to report that on a daily basis; we’re just trying to fine-tune a couple of things with the IT department,” education director Mark Fisher said this week.
The Ottawa-Carleton District school board said last week it was working on a website to track COVID-19 cases at schools voluntarily reported by parents.
Fisher said the voluntary reports would allow “parents to make informed decisions about whether or not they want their children to attend on those days.”
Health units and school boards are no longer tracking cases at schools since the province limited who can get PCR tests to determine if they have COVID-19.
PCR tests are reserved for the most vulnerable, but boards are distributing two rapid antigen tests students can use at home.
The provincial government began this week posting daily school absence rates for staff and students at ontario.ca/page/covid-19-school-closures-and-absenteeism .
The province has said when a school reaches a rate of 30 per cent parents would be notified.
Fisher said that when absenteeism reaches that threshold, it doesn’t necessarily mean the school will be closed. Nor does absenteeism below the threshold mean a school will remain open.
Closing a classroom or a school depends on whether there were “significant staffing issues” due to staff being ill or having to quarantine, Fisher said.
“We have schools that will close beneath that threshold,” he said. “In the event we have significant staffing issues and are required to close those classrooms or a school, we will provide as much advance notification as possible around the need to pivot to virtual.”