TDSB to notify entire school community when COVID-19 case detected in class
Posted April 4, 2022 6:29 pm.
Last Updated April 4, 2022 6:33 pm.
The Toronto District School Board announced it’s changing how it sends out its COVID-19 notification letters to provide a more comprehensive picture.
TDSB spokesperson, Ryan Bird, tells CityNews the board has not stopped sending COVID-19 notification letters since the beginning of the pandemic and will continue until at least the end of the school year.
The change announced Monday is instead of sending letters to families of impacted classrooms only, the board will be streamlining the process by providing one note per day with a list of all impacted classes.
“It’s particularly streamlining the process for secondary schools where a handful of cases, times four different courses, were leading to potentially dozens of letters,” Bird said.
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Bird said parents, guardians, and families find this information valuable, and so the board wants to provide a wider snapshot, “a more accurate picture of what’s happening inside their school.”
Only the class names will be provided, not the names of staff and students, along with the date. Bird said that’s when an individual can decide if they want to wear a mask or not.
“With the lifting of COVID-19 measures by the ministry,” Bird said, “it is a lot tougher to determine who and who is not a close contact, so by notifying parents and families, we’re letting them know that there is a case in that class and they may wish to consider wearing a mask for a period of 10 days.”
The TDSB is also reminding the public on social media a number of health and safety measures remain in place, and to “be respectful of others and individual choices.”
Moving forward, COVID-19 notification letters will now be shared with the entire school community and include all impacted classes in the school. This updated process will provide a more comprehensive picture and continue until the end of this school year.
— Toronto District School Board (@tdsb) April 4, 2022
