The Ontario government announced that students in several school boards across the province will be returning to the classrooms but those in Waterloo Region will remain at home for now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, with the support of the local Medical Officers of Health, and with the introduction of additional layers of protection, 280,000 students in four public health regions will return to class on Monday, February 1,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement.
The province says students in London and Ottawa as well as the surrounding areas will be back in classrooms as of Monday.
“According to leading medical and scientific experts, including Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, our province’s schools are safe places for learning,” Lecce’s statement said.
Waterloo Region’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang says she supports the province’s decision to keep area schools closed.
“While our trends are improving, our local situation remains serious,” Wang said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
“At this time, I am supportive of last week’s decision by the Ministry of Education, made in consultation with the Ministry of Health, to extend online learning in Waterloo Region for the time being.”
The Waterloo Region District School Board issued a release shortly after Lecce’s announcement that said classrooms in the area would be closed until at least Feb. 10.
“For clarity, the earliest the WRDSB will be able to welcome students back to in person learning is Thursday February 11, 2021. Ministry of Education and Public Health officials are responsible for making this decision.”
As of Monday, the province says 520,000 kids across Ontario will be back in the classroom, although it did not say how many kids are still in remote learning.
The areas surrounding Waterloo Region remain in remote learning mode as well.
On Boxing Day, the province announced that all schools across the province would remain closed for an extra week after Christmas.
Those students were expected to return to in-person learning on Jan. 11.
Lecce reiterated that in a letter to parents on Jan. 4, but shifted gears three days later when he announced that a good portion of southern Ontario schools would continue remote learning until Jan. 25.
On Jan. 20, the province announced its decision late in the afternoon that students in Waterloo Region would not be allowed to return to classrooms on Jan. 25.
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