TORONTO – According to data provided by school boards to the Ontario government, more than 15 percent of all staff and students at Toronto’s public schools were absent on Friday. The province’s Ministry of Education indicated that of the 385 schools on the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) that reported absence data for last Friday, 23 TDSB schools reported absences of more than 30 percent, and all but two were high schools where students were preparing for exams or taking them.
TORONTO – The students returned to the classrooms on Wednesday but a large number of teachers remained at home. It is an emergency in the school boards of the GTA that are rushing to hire substitutes to replace absent teachers due to, they say, “the high number of infections or contacts with people infected with Covid-19”.
TORONTO – Election campaigns are always full of surprises. One would be tempted to think that they are all about issues revolving around HOW dedicated men and women would shape our future. I try to pay attention; still under the influence of a romantic nostalgia for a democratic process that never was, I guess, or perhaps I am totally naïve. (more…)
TORONTO – Safety plans, guidelines, mask use, physical distance, maximum limit of students, vaccination obligation for school staff. These are some of the issues on which, just over six weeks before the beginning of the school year, our political class should start a serious and constructive debate, incorporating the indications and inputs of the provincial scientific community, trade associations and school provveditorati. In Ontario, at least for now, everything is silent. (more…)