March break at Ontario elementary and secondary schools postponed until April

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By: Jacquie Miller

Ontario’s March school break has been postponed until the middle of April, says Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

Lecce said he made the difficult decision in order to ensure elementary and secondary schools remain safe as students return to in-person learning across the province.

The postponement is based on the advice of Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams and supported by some local medical officers of health, Lecce said at a press conference Thursday.

The break has moved from March 15-19 to April 12-16.

Lecce said the government wants to avoid a repeat of the Christmas holiday break, when cases of COVID-19 spiked.

Gatherings during that holiday contributed to a rise in community transmission of the virus, said Lecce.

Ontario can’t take that risk again, especially with the emergence of new variants of the virus, he said.

The holidays are different, of course — many Canadians have time off around Christmas and New Year’s and social gatherings are a staple, while March break primarily affects students and their parents.

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However, the fear was that students and parents would gather with people outside their own households during March break and travel in violation of public health recommendations.

This March break poses particular challenges for working parents because the usual camps for kids are not operating.

Lecce said he expects private schools to also postpone their March breaks.

Unions representing teachers and other educators as well as the council representing English public school principals had urged the government to allow March break to go ahead as planned, saying workers were stressed and exhausted after a year of pandemic schooling.

“Ontario educators are anxious, stressed and exhausted,” said a statement from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. “They have been asked to work beyond their capacity, often in uncertain conditions, with unpredictable direction from this government. Educators need an opportunity to rest and recharge in anticipation of what will surely be a challenging spring as the pandemic continues to evolve.”

That union argued that the public health argument for postponing or cancelling March break is “dubious at best.”

“Despite the limited available data regarding the role schools have played in contributing to transmission of the virus, there is growing evidence that school openings have contributed to the rise of cases during the second wave of the pandemic.”

EFTO President Sam Hammond has said he doesn’t buy the argument that students are safer in school than out during March break.

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Travel during the March school break last year was blamed for escalating the first wave of the pandemic.

Four days before the start of the 2020 March break, Premier Doug Ford urged parents to continue with their holiday plans and enjoy themselves. At the time, Canada’s Public Health Agency was only advising against travel to a few world COVID-19 hot spots like China and Iran.

But later the same day, the Ontario government announced schools would close for two weeks after the March break. By the next day, federal public health authorities had asked Canadians to cancel all non-essential travel outside the country.

Some families had already made travel plans for March break and left anyway or were already outside the country.

Elementary and secondary schools never reopened, and students spent the remainder of the 2019-20 year switching to emergency remote learning at home.

jmiller@postmedia.com

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