The president of the Sudbury elementary unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association has said there is “absolute concern” among her members after a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in local schools.
There have now been 24 COVID-19 cases in local schools since in-person learning resumed this month, most of them in Sudbury Catholic District School Board schools.
Four local schools — St. David Catholic Elementary School (where there are 13 cases alone), Pius XII Catholic Elementary School, Marymount Academy and École St-Denis — have now been shut due to the virus.
“The luck we had in Sudbury prior to the holidays has run out,” said OECTA’s Chantal Rancourt, who represents elementary teachers with the Sudbury Catholic board. “Once it gets into the schools, it’s a lot more difficult to control. The virus has a mind of its own.”
Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce say schools are safe, but teachers aren’t convinced, she said.
“In the regular community, you need a two-metre distance,” Rancourt said. “You cannot do that in the schools. It is just not possible with the class sizes.”
After the recent COVID-19 cases in Sudbury schools, many people have taken to their keyboards to say that all schools in the area should be closed to in-person learning, and classes moved online.
In fact, in our informal Sudbury.com Jan. 25 poll focusing on this issue, 68 per cent said Sudbury schools should be closed.
Rancourt isn’t willing to go that far, although she did agree that once a COVID-19 case is discovered in a particular school, it should be closed to in-person learning for two weeks.
But she said in-person learning is crucial.
“You need to be in the classroom,” Rancourt said. “You cannot replicate face-to-face learning online. Virtual is not the answer, but virtual should be what’s necessary when safety is an issue.”
She said she thinks the entire school population should also receive COVID-19 tests once one case is discovered.
Sudbury.com also reached out to the school boards with the most recent cases for an interview on the topic.
A spokesperson for Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon said the board would not grant interviews on COVID-19. We have not yet heard back from Sudbury Catholic District School Board officials.
