THUNDER BAY - The medical officer of health for the Thunder Bay District says the back to school plan outlined by the province is fair and comprehensive and it's important that students get back into the classroom.
“I thought it actually presented a fairly comprehensive approach when dealing with the reopening of schools and dealing with the health and safety of both students and staff,” said Dr. Janet DeMille, medical officer of health with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
“It outlines a framework and includes a variety of measures that would promote the health and wellbeing of students and staff in schools.”
The provincial government released its plan for reopening schools across Ontario last week. It has since generated criticism from teachers, opposition MPPs, and parents who are concerned that class sizes have not been reduced.
DeMille said how the plan will be implemented will depend on individual school boards and the health unit is working closely with the seven school boards in the district.
“I think overall, I thought it was a comprehensive approach and did cover what I would expect it to cover,” she said. “I might prefer a more stricter approach than what is written in that document on certain things, about what we will be doing when we work with schools. We have already been working with school boards.”
The Lakehead Public School Board and the Thunder Bay District Catholic School Board outlined their plans for the school year, which will include in-class instruction five days a week with normal class sizes. At-home learning models are still available for parents who choose not to send their children back to the classroom.
But DeMille said the health unit will continue to build on its longstanding relationship with the school boards to provide assistance where needed.
“With the pandemic of course we have been regularly meeting with school boards to help support the development of those plans and developing some resources and tool kits to help them with the processes as they reopen,” she said.
And while returning to the classroom has some families anxious about what it will look like or the potential safety risks, DeMille believes getting back to school has many benefits for students.
“In terms of schools reopening, I think that's an important thing to do,” she said. “We know the lock down and closure of schools that happened in the spring, that was important to do at that time because we didn't know much about the virus at that time, we didn't know the role students can plan in ongoing transmission, and it was important to stop that.”
Schools across the province were closed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and at-home learning models were used for the remainder of the school year.
But DeMille said there were consequences to that shut down.
“Many kids struggled to be able to do that, it put an extra burden on parents,” she said. “It's very important for the social development of children that they have that social interaction with their peers and their teachers, and also just learning.”
Schools in Thunder Bay will reopen in September. Students in the Lakehead Board are expected to register by Aug. 14, while students in the Catholic Board must opt-in for at-home learning by Aug. 17.
