Both the public and catholic school boards in Waterloo Region have cancelled trips abroad for students in March over COVID-19 concerns.
Conestoga College also sent a letter to employees on Thursday, which says that the school has cancelled all study abroad trips for students as well as all approved international travel for students and employees.
The school says it is part of a plan to “preserve and protect the academic experience and safety of our college community and workplace environment.”
The Waterloo Region District School Board says that over March break, students from Kitchener and Waterloo were supposed to head to Greece (Eastwood Collegiate Institute), Ireland (Bluevale Collegiate Institute) and Switzerland (Kitchener Collegiate Institute).
“With the current travel advisories and daily public health information updates, WRDSB has decided to cancel the three trips to Europe scheduled for March 2020,” WRDSB director of education John Bryant wrote in a letter to parents on Thursday.
He says the decision was made with the safety of students in mind.
“While this was not an easy decision for us, we cannot ignore the global impact of COVID-19, and must take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of our staff and students,” Bryant wrote.
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) says that students from Resurrection Catholic Secondary School will now have to wait until May for a trip to Italy, which was also supposed to happen in March.
“The trip was basically postponed out of an abundance of caution,” board spokesperson John Shewchuk told Global News in an email. “Because of the way the situation is developing in Italy and the fact that we had to make a go or no-go decision right now, the prudent call was to postpone.”
He says future trips are now currently under review.