TDSB says it will alert families about COVID-19 cases when school restarts

The Toronto District School Board announced Thursday it will continue to alert families about COVID-19 cases in its schools as students and staff prepare to head back to classrooms on Monday.

The move comes after the Ministry of Education said it would no longer collect COVID-19 case numbers from school boards.

“At the TDSB, when schools become aware of a PCR or Rapid Antigen Test confirmed case of COVID-19, directly impacted classes will continue to be informed,” the TDSB wrote to parents in a letter Thursday.

“As the Ministry of Education has stated that classes will no longer be dismissed as a result of a case of COVID-19, that guidance will no longer be provided by the school. Instead, parents/guardians and/or students will review the daily COVID-19 screening tool to determine if they are permitted to return to school.”

The school board noted that while classes directly impacted by the confirmed COVID-19 cases will continue to be informed, the board will no longer be updating its website to reflect the number of cases in its schools.

Meanwhile, school boards in Ontario were calling on the provincial government to reinstate COVID-19 reporting and tracking when schools reopen next week.