Toronto 
Ontario is still aiming to have all schools reopen for in-person learning by the middle of next week but a spike in COVID-19 cases could change those plans, the premier said Monday.
Doug Ford said the province is still deciding if students that are learning online can return to physical classrooms on Feb. 10.
“That’s our goal, Feb. 10,” he said. ” “If it’s not safe we aren’t sending them back.”
Fords comments came shortly after Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the government was considering a number factors, including COVID-19 case counts and local preparedness plans, as it weighed reopening plans.
All students began January with online learning as part of a provincial lockdown.
The province has since taken a staggered approach to reopening physical classrooms, starting first with Northern Ontario and rural schools where case rates are lower.
Schools in five hot spots as well as several other regions are still teaching students entirely online and the province previously said they would reopen for in-person learning by Feb. 10.
“We know parents want certainty on the matter,” Lecce said. “And we hope we can provide that in the coming days based on a risk assessment.”
While case counts across the province have been declining, health officials have warned that new variants of COVID-19 present a risk to containing the pandemic.
Ontario’s chief medical officer said the province needs to do more work with public health units before all schools can reopen to in-person learning.
“We don’t want transmission in the schools, we want to keep that out,” Dr. David Williams said. “So we’ve asked (local health units) now to put those plans in place.”
The province also announced Monday it has allocated $341 million of federal funding to school boards intended to bolster COVID-19 safety.
The funding will be used for a variety of measures including to hire more cleaning staff, buy personal protective equipment, and enhance air filtration in schools.
The province also provided more detail on its previously announced plan to introduce asymptomatic school testing across the province.
Ministry officials said Ontario will have the capacity to complete 25,000 lab tests, and 25,000 antigen rapid tests per week, but could not say how long it will take to reach those numbers.
The government also said it will allow university students pursuing teaching degrees to work as substitute teachers this year in an effort to deal with educator shortages due to the pandemic.
The province is making a temporary change to its teacher certification program to allow the students to work in schools.
They must be enrolled in a current program and have successfully completed a portion of it. They must also be scheduled to complete the program by Dec. 31, 2021.
The province said the temporary certificate changes will expire at the end of the year.
It hopes the changes will mean up to 2,000 additional supply teachers will be available for positions across the province.
NDP Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath said the student teacher plan should come second to prioritizing safety, pointing to long-standing calls for classes of 15 or fewer students, proper ventilation and asymptomatic testing.
“I think that creative solutions are always something to consider but I have to say, unless those schools are safe, then nobody should be going into them, and we know that that’s not the case,” Horwath said.
Liberal Leader Stephen Del Duca said the Ford government needs to take action to cap class sizes at 15.
“The first thing we learned in this pandemic was that physical distancing works. Doug Ford’s failure to learn this lesson is simply unacceptable,” Del Duca said in a statement.
– with files from Holly McKenzie-Sutter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2021.
Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press
