{"id":79091,"date":"2021-05-04T14:46:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=79091"},"modified":"2021-05-04T14:46:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:46:29","slug":"ontario-to-offer-remote-learning-next-school-year-but-no-details-on-return-to-class-this-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/local\/gta\/ontario-to-offer-remote-learning-next-school-year-but-no-details-on-return-to-class-this-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario to offer remote learning next school year, but no details on return to class this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ontario
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Tuesday that the province will continue to offer online learning during the next school year. He did not provide any details about the current school year. (Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ontario will offer online learning for\u00a0the next school year, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Tuesday, though he offered no news about\u00a0whether or not students might return to in-person learning this spring.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ontario considering making online school a permanent option<\/a><\/p>\n

At a news conference Tuesday, reporters asked the minister a variety of questions about the current school year, but Lecce repeatedly deferred to the advice of\u00a0Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams, who was not present.<\/p>\n

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“When we get updated advice … you will know it,” Lecce said.<\/p>\n

The education minister did say\u00a0the province wants kids to be back in school, and will continue to seek advice from the Williams “on the way forward.”<\/p>\n

“We will not take risks with your child,” he said.<\/p>\n

The province says the option to use online learning will be available for the entire 2021-2022 school year and it will be providing more information to parents in the coming months.<\/p>\n

The government also says it will increase funding to school boards by $561 million next year to help address continued pandemic-related costs.<\/p>\n

It says it will spend a total of $25.6 billion on the education system in 2021-2022 \u2014 an increase of 2.2 per cent over the previous year.<\/p>\n

The province says it will allow boards to access their reserves, as it did last year, to help address pandemic costs.<\/p>\n

It will also extend $1.6 billion in COVID-19 supports to boards, including millions to upgrade ventilation, support learning recovery, and allow for flexible staffing.<\/p>\n

Case count drops below 3,000<\/h2>\n

Ontario reported another 2,791 cases of COVID-19 and the deaths of 25 more people with the illness on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The last time the daily case count was below 3,000 in the province was nearly a month ago on April 5. It’s also the fewest new infections reported on a single day since April 1.<\/p>\n

Notably, though, Tuesdays frequently see the lowest numbers of new cases relative to other days of the week, likely due to the processing of weekend tests on Mondays.<\/p>\n

Today’s count comes as labs completed just 33,740 tests and Public Health Ontario logged a provincewide positivity rate of 9.1 per cent. Officials said Monday that the seven-day average test positivity rate was 8.3 per cent.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday there were 3,265 further cases confirmed with about the same number of processed tests and a per cent positivity rate of 10.2.<\/p>\n

It could be an indicator that the growth in infections is continuing its recent trend of slowing, but firm conclusions can’t be drawn from any one day of data.It is also possible that the relatively low overall testing figures of recent weeks and high positivity rates mean that infections are going unconfirmed.<\/p>\n

The additional cases reported today include:<\/p>\n