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. 

The two TDSB primary schools where absences were more than 30% were Shoreham Public School and Walter Perry Junior Public School.

In all the Toronto public schools that submitted data on Friday, the average absence rate was 17%.

Often these are partial rates that do not fully photograph the reality in the world of the province’s school: in the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TDCSB), for example, only 105 of the 206 schools of the board presented data on Friday absences. Of these, one high school, Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School, reported that 30 percent of staff and students were not present, while all other schools had lower absence rates.

St. Joseph’s College School reported that 25% of staff and students were absent, while at St. Louis Catholic School 23% of staff and students were not in the classroom.

In all the schools of the Catholic School District of Toronto that presented data for January 28, the average absence rate was 10%.

For all 492 Toronto schools that submitted data for that day, the average absence rate was 15.3%.

The numbers appear to be a decline from this period last week, when the TDSB reported an average absence rate of 22.88% and the TCDSB reported an average absence rate of 14.51%.

At that time there were a total of 70 schools in Toronto reporting an absenteeism rate of more than 30%, including 17 with an absence rate above 40%.

When the children returned to school eleven days ago, the province determined that parents will be informed directly only when a school reaches a rate of absenteeism of 30% above the basic frequency and that closures at that time can be taken into account but will not necessarily be put into practice.

Despite the fact that the government no longer requires the disclosure of positive cases of Covid in schools, the school authorities of Toronto have decided – if they become aware of it – to continue to inform the classes affected by the presence of infections caused by the virus.

Students absent for travel or short distance learning reasons are not included in this calculation.

Elsewhere in the GTA, Peel Region school boards reported an average absence rate of 13.6%, Halton boards reported 6.5%, york region boards indicated that 10.4% of all staff and students were absent on Friday. Durham reported that the average absence rate was 13%.

Only 68% of the province’s 4,844 schools submitted attendance data recorded on January 28.

Eight schools were closed across Ontario last Friday for operational reasons related to Covid-19.