President of local ETFO thinks province needs to be more proactive with testing in schools

Ontario's Education Minister announced Thursday that take-home COVID-19 tests will be available at all public schools across the province, starting in a few weeks.

The PCR tests have been available in schools in Toronto and Ottawa, and some other communities, but Stephen Lecce says now all students in public schools will have access.

If a student develops a COVID-19 symptom, or is identified as a close contact of a positive case, they can pick up a test at their school, do it at home, and drop it off at a community location for processing.

The government says it's aimed at alleviating some of the inconvenience in the testing process, eliminating the need for students and staff to book an appointment at an assessment centre to get tested.

“It's a good step,” said Jeff Pelich, President of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario for Waterloo Region, “what we would like to see is that there's more testing taking place on proactive approach, so that students who may be asymptomatic, and may not be in schools where there are positive cases, are being tested, or have the ability to be tested, on a more frequent basis to prevent COVID from coming into schools in the first place.”

Pelich thinks the program expansion helps with the outbreak situation, but the initial case can still come into the school.

“It doesn't do anything to ensure COVID isn't coming into the schools,” Pelich added, “the expanded rapid testing on an ongoing proactive basis is what's really needed.”

The ability to take the kit home, Pelich feels, is a great option for families for convenience purposes, particularly for the region's more vulnerable students who may struggle with going out to regular resting centres.

“It's those rapid tests we'd really like to see more in schools, and sent out to parents as part of the program itself,” added Pelich.  

The province did say it's planning to expand a rapid testing program that would see students do regular tests over 10 days if officials are otherwise contemplating a whole school dismissal due to high cases.

Lecce also announced that unvaccinated education workers will have to undergo rapid antigen testing three times a week instead of two.

“The testing program itself seems to make sense,” Pelich said, “we appreciate unvaccinated individuals can use those testing kits as an option to remain unvaccinated, and it keeps the schools safe by ensuring they're collecting a negative result.”

Once again, Pelich feels a more proactive approach is necessary for testing staff.

“We would also like to see the testing rolled out to staff who are vaccinated,” Pelich added, “we know COVID can be spread to vaccinated individuals as well, and ensuring they have access to testing kits, can also ensure schools are more safe.”

93.7 per cent of all education workers who are part of the ETFO in the region are fully vaccinated.

– With files from Canadian Press