More than 300 Ontario schools have at least 30% absenteeism
Posted January 24, 2022 6:11 am.
Last Updated June 27, 2022 4:12 pm.
Ontario began sharing data about school absences on Monday, a week after in-person learning resumed without public reporting of classroom COVID-19 exposures.
According to the first day of data, there are 337 schools in the province that have an absenteeism rate of 30 per cent or more. This includes 72 schools in the City of Toronto.
Nearly 60 per cent of all schools in the province at an absenteeism rate of at least 10 per cent. There are more than 4,800 schools in Ontario and 3,453 schools reported data on the first day it was made available.
The province says 16 schools are currently closed due to COVID-19.
When classrooms reopened to in-person learning on Jan. 17, the province no longer required school boards to share information about positive cases. Instead, parents will be notified when the combined absenteeism among staff and students reaches 30 per cent, regardless of whether those absences are connected to the virus.
- Ontario schools with 30%+ absenteeism – 337 (6.9% of schools in the province)
- Ontario schools with 20-29% absenteeism – 853 (17.6% of schools in the province)
- Ontario schools with 10-19% absenteeism – 1694 (35% of schools in the province)
The info will be updated on the province’s website each weekday at 10:30 a.m. and will list schools and school boards that have reported absences.
The page shows the combined absenteeism rate for staff and students by school. The website notes that school boards are required to report all absences, including instances where someone is away for reasons other than COVID-19.
“If there is a discrepancy between the school closure and/or absenteeism data reported here and data reported publicly by the school board, consider the information reported by the school board to be the most up to date,” reads the website.
The page shows data reflecting the previous school day.
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Several school boards have said they will continue notifying families when there is exposure. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) says that directly impacted classes will still be informed when schools become aware of a positive PCR or rapid antigen test.
“While individual classes will continue to be provided with COVID-19 case information, the COVID-19 Advisories page on the TDSB website will no longer be updated,” Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins said.
Other GTA school boards have followed suit. In an email to parents and guardians, the Halton Catholic District School Board advised they would be doing the same and the Durham District School Board says it will be reporting data on its online COVID-19 advisory page.
When asked why the government is no longer reporting COVID-19 data in schools, Ontario’s top doctor said the province modified its protocols in its “pivot from Delta to Omicron.”
Some are concerned that the absenteeism rate will not accurately reflect the COVID situation in schools. Absences for other reasons will be part of the data and a student who contracted the virus could log on for remote learning and not be recorded as absent.
Dr. Kieran Moore said the province would continue to report specific virus-related data, such as virus-related admissions to hospitals for children between the ages of five to 11 and 12 to 17.
The province moved its schools to remote learning at the end of the winter break as Omicron cases surged to unprecedented levels in the province and overwhelmed the testing system.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce has said that Ontario’s return to in-person learning will focus on rapid testing, improved ventilation and more access to vaccinations and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The plan includes doling out two rapid antigen tests to each student and staff member when symptomatic. More than 3.9 million rapid tests were given out to schools last week and Lecce says more are on the way.
Some are expressing concern that the Ford government’s rolled-back testing strategy poses a danger as students return to the classroom.
“I think it would be extremely helpful to have more testing in schools,” said infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch. “If we did have greater capacity, I would focus it on the schools.”
“It doesn’t appear that’s the case and that’s really unfortunate because we are two years into the pandemic, we should have the capacity by now to do this.”
With files from Lucas Casaletto of CityNews and the Canadian Press
