Overview of operational guidance

This operational guidance is intended to support school boards and school authorities in the safe reopening and operation of schools for the 2021-2022 school year. This guidance also applies to child care centres and before and after school programs that operate within schools.

In the event of a discrepancy between this guidance and a directive of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the directive prevails.

In response to the evolving situation related to the COVID‑19 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern (VOC), the Ministry of Health is providing public health units with interim guidance for schools and child care during the Omicron surge. This guidance is to be used as an interim update (until otherwise specified by the ministry) to COVID‑19 guidance: school case, contact, and outbreak management and is also to be used in conjunction with COVID‑19 integrated testing & case, contact and outbreak management interim guidance: Omicron surge. These guidance documents provide direction for local public health units on the management of COVID‑19 cases and contacts.

While the focus of this guidance is on the updated health, safety and operational measures that are required in order to safely reopen and operate schools, please note that every effort should continue to be made to uphold the welcoming and caring environment that schools provide for children and families. There may be variability in scenarios based on local context and epidemiology and the information in this document is intended as guidance only.

Additional information is available on the provincial COVID‑19 website, including resources to help stop the spread and sector specific resources, such as helpful posters and mental health resources. If you have further questions or require clarification, please contact your Ministry of Education regional office.

Responsibilities

As part of the COVID‑19 response, there should be well defined roles, responsibilities, and processes within the school board, school and the local PHU.

Schools are responsible for reporting:

  • occupational illness to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, as well as to the workplace joint health and safety committee, the worker's labour union (if any), and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
  • absenteeism to the Ministry of Education through the daily reporting tool, in accordance with provincial direction

Schools are to notify the local PHU when absenteeism of specific schools rises to a defined level (approximately 30% above baseline), and:

  • work with the PHU to review absenteeism data when the particular threshold has been met, to assess whether there may be alternative causes for the increase
  • communicate in writing with school community (including staff, students, families) about absenteeism, if recommended by the PHU

Role of school administrators and school boards

School administrators and school boards should:

  • implement prevention measures found in guidance from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and their local PHU
    • this includes having an accessible process in place to implement on-site screening procedures
  • cooperate and coordinate with the local PHU, and other stakeholders as required
  • communicate with early years partners about COVID‑19 in schools and school boards
  • maintain accurate records of staff, students and visitors
  • provide PHUs with the name(s) and contact information of a designated point of contact for use during and/or after business hours.
  • This information should include up-to-date attendance records for all common school locations attended by staff and students, and transportation seating charts (where applicable), and contact information for those groups. This information should be provided to the PHU within 24 hours of request to ensure timely follow-up.

In general, schools should not report all instances of ill individuals in the school setting to the PHU as these are frequent occurrences and typically students have non-specific symptoms. However, as required by section 28 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, school principals are required to report to the medical officer of health if they are of the opinion that a pupil has or may have a communicable disease. As such, principals should contact their local PHU if they have concerns about COVID‑19 student related absences or attendance concerns within their school community.

The local PHU may be consulted if there are questions about the management of individuals with symptoms, environmental cleaning, and other measures (PDF), as necessary.

In collaboration with the PHU, communicate proactively with the school community about COVID‑19 prevention measures and about how individuals with symptoms of COVID‑19 should be managed.

School administrators and boards will need to develop a communication plan, in collaboration with the local PHU, for managing concerns in the school setting, and use this proactively and responsively as needed in schools.

Training with respect to outbreak prevention and control measures, including IPAC measures and the use of PPE should also be provided to school staff.

Communicating with the school community

All school boards and schools will have a COVID‑19 advisory section on their website. Schools and child care operators will no longer be routinely notifying families of positive cases or if an individual is absent due to symptoms associated with COVID‑19.

If a school will be closed for a period of time, parents, students and staff will be notified immediately.

Notice of any closures of schools will be posted on school and school board COVID‑19 advisory sections, including operational decisions by schools/boards to close schools School boards should provide as much notice as possible to students, families and staff affected by closures of in-person learning.

Reporting COVID-19 absences in schools

To support ongoing monitoring and transparency related to COVID‑19 impacts on schools, the ministry requires schools to monitor their own absenteeism rates and report on student and staff absences, and school closures, daily through the absence reporting tool (ART). Note that the absence data collected will not be for the purpose of contact tracing and no personal information will be collected by the Ministry of Education. If a school is closed for in-person learning, school boards should report this information to the local Field Services Branch Regional Office.