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Schools will stay closed until September 2021

Province of Ontario
Province of Ontario

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced today, Wednesday, June 2, 2021, that all Ontario students will not return to in-class learning before September this year.

An official statement from the province says, "the Ontario government has made the difficult decision to continue with remote learning for all elementary and secondary students across the province for the remainder of this school year."

The decision comes today after both weeks of pressure to make a choice for students, parents and teachers to plan for the rest of the school year and soliciting advice from dozens of health organizations on Thursday, May 27 last week.

Ford reasoned some experts believed students should be back in class, but that they could not promise that the move wouldn't lead to thousands of new COVID-19 cases.

In answering his open letter, "Some of them said kids should be back in school on a regional basis for the last couple weeks of schools," said Ford. "But - they [the experts] couldn't tell us that returning to in-class learning before more students and teachers are vaccinated won't lead to thousands and thousands of more cases."

(On the topic of student vaccinations, all Halton youth age 12 and up can now book their vaccination appointments with a regional program that will prioritize both doses before the 2021/2022 school year.)

Ford also cited the possible transmission of variants and getting kids sick. "While no one wants kids back in school more than I do, these aren't risks I'm willing to take." In his press conference, Ford did acknowledge that "Our children have been impacted more than most. The pandemic has disrupted their lives."

He continued empathetically, "I can't imagine what it's been like for you. As adults, we can really, fully appreciate what it's been like for our kids. It's not lost on me," said Ford. A full video of today's announcement is available here.

According to Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce, the bottom line is the can't risk kids being indoors "for eight hours a day for two to three weeks. You've heard the docs say: indoors bad, outdoors good."

When asked about Ford's new concern for the threats of in-class learning, being a reversal of the long-time government stance that "schools are safe," he replied, "What's changed if we have the new Indian (actually called the B.1.617) variant." 

On another subject, Ford teased that Ontario may begin Phase One of its three-step reopening plan sooner than the proposed Monday, June 14 date. Ford said he is awaiting modelling from outgoing Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams (expected to come tomorrow) before deciding or making that announcement.

More information is available directly from the province of Ontario.


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Tyler Collins

About the Author: Tyler Collins

Tyler Collins is the editor for Oakville News. Originally from Campbellton, New Brunswick, he's lived in Oakville more than 20 years. Tyler is a proud Sheridan College graduate of both Journalism and Performing Arts.
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