The Ontario government has updated the COVID-19 case, contact and outbreak management process. As a result, the Ministry of Education has suspended reporting of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in all schools, including elementary and secondary schools of the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.
To support ongoing monitoring and transparency related to COVID-19 in schools, the Ministry requires schools to report student and staff absences and school closures daily. This information is available on the Ontario.ca website (enter Board or school name in the search field).
School boards are also required to report to public health whenever absences in a school community reach a threshold of approximately 40 percent for students and staff (which is approximately 30 percent above the school’s baseline number of 10 percent absence). Public health will provide further direction for schools reaching this threshold, including whether communication to the school community is required. St. Clair Catholic continues to follow the advice and direction of public health in all matters related to COVID-19.
St. Clair Catholic recognizes the value and importance of in-person classroom learning for students. However, due to the widespread transmission of Omicron, we are planning for the possibility of short-term school closures, as the result of staff shortages. The Board has contingency plans in place, such as deployment of occasional staff, Board-level staff, and the possibility of combining students from different cohorts. All plans have been reviewed by the local Medical Officers of Health. Should it become necessary to temporarily close a classroom or school and revert to online learning, parents/guardians will be given as much notice as possible. School/classroom closures are reported on this page.
For the latest information regarding COVID-19 from St. Clair Catholic click here.
For information regarding St. Clair Catholic’s COVID-19 Vaccination Disclosure Attestation Summary, please visit the Board’s Broader Public Sector Accountability web page; or click here.
For up-to-date community information visit the Chatham-Kent Public Health and Lambton Public Health websites.