a growing number of staff absences at TVDSB and recent guidance from Public Health Ontario that suggests reimplementing a mask mandate may help the province in protecting itself from the sixth wave of COVID-19.
Trustees pass indoor masking requirement for Thames Valley District School Board Under the now-approved motion, staff, students and visitors must all wear a mask while inside TVDSB buildings “until such time as Public Health Ontario updates this guidance or the Local Public Health Units in TVDSB explicitly advise otherwise.”“Students will not be required to submit medical documentation for exemptions,” the motion added.In an email to Global News on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for TVDSB said administration is meeting “to discuss how the Trustee motion can be operationalized in schools and TVDSB buildings.”“Once final decisions have been made after meeting with the Ministry of Education, clear communications around next steps will be shared with TVDSB staff and families,” the spokesperson added.Questions surrounding the enforceability of the requirement emerged during Tuesday night’s meeting, during which TVDSB general legal counsel Ali Chahbar responded that the board lost its enforcement mechanism once the province lifted mask mandates in schools on March 21.
Ottawa public school board trustees vote to implement mask mandate Nevertheless, the move to reinstate masking earned conditional praise from the head of the union representing elementary teachers at TVDSB.“If it is something that helps keep everyone safe at the school and keeps the school open smoothly so that teaching and learning can continue.