Your back-to-class questions answered by TVDSB's Mark Fisher
CBC
Students across Ontario will be returning to in-person school starting on Monday. CBC London Morning opened the phone lines so you could ask the director of education of the region's largest school board your own questions. Here's how Thames Valley District School Board Director of Education Mark Fisher responded.
Q: Will every classroom have a HEPA filter installed on Monday?
A: Every kindergarten class in the system has a HEPA filter. Every self-contained special education classroom has a HEPA filter, and we're in the process of distributing filters to every other classroom that has passive ventilation or that may have a student with a medical mask exemption. It's probably around 25 to 30 percent of our classrooms that have one.
Q: Why can't there be an option on the absence reporting tool to indicate that children are home with cold-like symptoms or they've had a positive rapid test?
I appreciate the questions, and I also appreciate the suggestion. As we speak, we are trying to internally look at a way that we can identify or provide parents the option of self-reporting around whether or not they have symptoms or whether or not they are self-isolating and in quarantine. And then, we are committed to sharing that information publicly. Listen, we've been transparent with this information from day one. We want parents to make informed decisions. So we are working on that exact suggestion.
Q: With teachers being sick, what are the demands for supply teachers?
A: We have a tremendous demand for supply teachers. We want to be the employer of choice for the area. We've put a full court press out on hiring. We're also using this as an opportunity to diversify our workforce. If you are a qualified supply teacher, please contact us and we'll be happy to arrange an interview.
Q: Will classes be collapsed if too many teachers are sick?
A: The ministry has given us permission to collapse classes. We obviously don't think that's a great idea because of the mixing of cohorts. What I'm telling you is the only time we would ever collapsed classes is if we were in an emergency situation and we had some temporary supervision challenges. But we are not using that as a strategy to deal with teacher absences.
Q: How can students who are sitting four to a table be safe during lunch break?
A: Well, I think the rules of engagement of the paradigm has shifted with Omicron. What we're recommending around any of the eating situations is that students wear their mask, lower their mask while they're taking food and then put the mask back up. We are doing our best to utilize every existing space to try to stagger lunches for physical distancing.
Q: What is the best advice for how to use the rapid tests being sent home?
A: It's for when you have a student who is symptomatic. First, I would say self-isolate and don't send them to school. After they move through the symptoms, you want to make the determination about whether or not to send your child back to school. It's at that point that I would use a rapid antigen test as a confirmation that you do not have COVID to aid in making that decision.
Q: Are PCR tests only available to students who have symptoms who have been at school?
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