Hamilton Public School Board Stops Reporting COVID-19 Cases Amid Return to Remote Learning – Hamilton | The Canadian News

With changes in eligibility for PCR testing and the shift to online learning, one of Hamilton’s two public school boards will stop collecting and reporting COVID-19 case numbers.

At the forefront of the decision is the Ontario Ministry of Education, which suggested on January 1 that precise data simply could not be properly traced with the wild spread of the Omicron variant.

Instead, the province will rely on absence data from licensed schools and child care centers to continue a change process of identifying positive COVID cases.

Hamilton Wentworth District School Board Education Director Manny Figueiredo says that from his perspective, he is not sure how sustainable reporting is considering the resources schools and public health have been using to produce new figures every day.

“People don’t realize that behind the scenes every time we have a confirmed case … there’s a case management team coming together and that team is the superintendent, the principal, and all the cohort watchlists that we require, ”said Figueiredo. .

“As the case count started to rise, we wondered how long we can really sustain this.”

The director refers to the large number of cases for all of Ontario’s education and child care in 2021, which racked up more than 8,000 reported infections, with just under 6,000 in elementary schools alone.

Despite all that effort, the measure has its critics, including the director of People for Education, a nonprofit organization, who characterized the move as giving up on where and how outbreaks occur in the system.

“It seems a bit like raising your hands and saying, ‘Well, we can’t keep track of this. It’s too big ‘and that really feels like a problem, ”Annie Kidder told CHML 900’s Good Morning Hamilton.

Since the return of face-to-face learning in September, both Hamilton Public School Boards have tracked a total of 813 cases between staff and students and the HWDSB accounts for 451.

To date, the process has essentially become a full-time undertaking for some public health and education workers, according to the HWDSB.

“If they were called at any time of the day to come in to do case management to support contact tracing… that was a full-time job for our school administrators,” Figueiredo said.

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A spokesman for the Catholic School Board (HWCDSB) says the outlet has yet to make a decision on case reporting and is seeking guidance from the city’s public health department.

The two Hamilton public school boards have set schedules and the theme for the launch of three models amid a return to remote learning beginning Wednesday.

Both the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) and the Catholic Board (HWCDSB) are taking a turn just days after the Ontario government issued several new COVID-19 public health measures including moving schools online. .

Figueiredo says the good news is that there are “playbooks” that have been in the same situation in the first half of 2020.

“We heard from families who were planning… two days of not being in school so far potentially two weeks,” Figueiredo told CHML 900’s Hamilton Today.

“So we understand that frustration, and the good news is… it’s not like we haven’t done it before.

All private and publicly funded schools in Ontario are moving toward remote learning from January 5 through at least January 17, subject to public health trends.

At letter to parents On Monday night, the HWDSB said that the first day for elementary school students who had been learning in person during the fall will involve connecting to virtual classrooms and curricula on January 5.

The day will involve instruction and the establishment of daily routines for distance learning.

“We have to build a little ramp for all of our elementary students in person,” said Figueiredo.

“Our staff have been working hard, but they are working on a half-day schedule … to communicate and make sure parents have the technology they need.”

Thursday will be a “remote full school day” that will provide schedules for families, reach out to those who need a device and deliver paper packages for those who cannot get them.

The board estimates that it will be necessary to deploy around 6,000 devices in families that do not have them.

The approximately 2,000 elementary students already learning online through the last semester will continue their program unchanged as of Wednesday.

High school students will begin their first full day on Wednesday with students learning their schedules and participating in synchronous and independent asynchronous learning.

Before and after school programs are on hold and are expected to reopen with possible return in person in two weeks.

The HWCDSB did not publish an itinerary for its remote learning launch, but it is expected to follow similar protocols as the HWDSB.

The Catholic board is instructing parents in need of technology to approach their children’s school for help.

The province is allowing some in-person instruction for students with special education needs that are deemed incompatible with distance learning.

During the 2020 strike, parents chose that model for about 300 students, according to the HWDSB.

“So we are working through conversations and they have to be very personal conversations,” said Figueiredo.

“We have to figure out where that programming will be … maybe homeschool, but it could be in some congregated settings because of the numbers.”

Part of the education ministry’s latest shift toward online learning includes free, in-person “targeted” emergency child care for school-age children from designated frontline essential health care workers.

Service is provided by three city facilities, Today’s Family and Golfwood Day Care on the Mountain, as well as Galbraith Day Care in Stoney Creek.

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