COVID-19 Roundup: Five-days-a-week school could cost $250M, says TDSB

By Sneh Duggal, David Hains and Jessica Smith Cross

TDSB issues cost estimate for five-day school option

The Toronto District School Board estimates that it could cost up to $250 million to hire nearly 2,500 teachers for one scenario outlined in a new planning document on the reopening of schools in the fall.

"As we look ahead to September, we know that school will look quite different as a result of continued efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19," said the discussion paper that was developed by the board's Integrated Return to School and Work Steering Committee, which includes interim Director of Education Carlene Jackson, and was set to be presented at a board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

TDSB staff said the board is planning for three options as outlined by the government — a full return to in-class learning, a continuation of remote learning or a combination of the two.

Premier Doug Ford said on Tuesday that he would prefer to see children in school five days a week.

Today, the premier seemed to indicate that the school board should make do with the money they have been allocated. "Just keep in mind that the TDSB is going to get $55 million more than they did last year, and within that $55 million there's $23 million allocated to hire more teachers. So we'll assess the whole area of education as we're doing right now," he said in his daily press conference.

He said no one knows what the health situation may look like, and so it's prudent to be prepared for a range of options. "Our goal, as a government, is to have kids in the classroom five days a week and [the] more people I['ve] talked to — be it teachers or be it parents and school trustees — everyone's saying, ‘Hey, we want our kids in there five days a week.’ So that's what our goal is."

The TDSB also indicated that it is planning for uncertainty in order to protect the health of students and staff.

"We have been actively planning for our return considering all possibilities ensuring that student and staff well-being and safety is the priority," said the TDSB report, which also shared the results of surveys that more than 70,000 staff, students and parents participated in. About 66 per cent of families planned to send their kids to school in the fall, with 73 per cent of students and 41 per cent of staff feeling comfortable with returning to the classroom.

One "regular school day" model outlined by TDSB staff would involve cohorts of 15 students in elementary grades, with one teacher covering all subjects. The board said that with such a model, it wouldn't be able to deliver French classes due to the added teachers that would be needed.

Under one option, about 989 new teachers would be needed — a cost of nearly $98.9 million. Students would be dismissed 48 minutes earlier than usual, allowing for teacher preparation time.

A second option would give students a full-day of learning, with teachers getting preparation time during the day. The board said 2,489 more teachers would be needed in this scenario at a cost of around $250 million.

Another model would see cohorts of 15 for junior kindergarten to Grade 3 students and cohorts of 20 for Grades 4 to 8.

A regular instructional day would require 1,900 more teachers, costing $190 million, but if students were let out 48 minutes earlier, only 200 teachers more teachers would be needed — a cost of about $20 million.

TDSB staff also proposed a schedule for a hybrid learning model, where students would alternate days between in-class and remote learning.

For high school, the board outlined several models based on a "quadmester structure," where the school year would be divided into four sections. The idea is that most students would need to complete two courses per quadmester.

The board said its final plans will be given to the ministry on Aug. 4 and indicated that more funding would be needed by the province to meet some of the scenarios outlined.

In addition to the possible costs of hiring more teachers, initial estimates from the board also show that "COVID-19 impacts" to TDSB's budget could amount to at least $22.5 million, with some figures like $1.5 million for personal protective equipment applying to just the first four months of the school year.

Premier weighs in on indemnity

Last month, in response to a question from the CBC, the premier said that cabinet was considering civil liability protection for COVID-19 cases. The news brought significant condemnation from the NDP, who charged that the government was putting long-term care businesses ahead of the rights and protections of families who lost loved ones in the facilities.

Today, the premier, responding to a question from QP Briefing, gave more details about what companies this liability protection would and would not protect. "With the long-term care homes, especially the bad actors, I just don't believe in protecting bad actors," he said, seemingly suggesting that there would be some standards that would have to be met in order to qualify for some kind of indemnity.

He illustrated his thinking by giving an example with corner stores, saying that it wouldn't be fair for the local convenience store to be sued if someone happened to pick up the coronavirus there.

"I know the attorney general's office is working on this and we'll be rolling out a plan very shortly," he said of the potential policy, which wasn't part of the government's recent omnibus legislation, Bill 197. "I just feel we have to protect the really good businesses, the vast majority of them, but when it comes to long-term care I don't believe we should protect people that were careless."

The form that the potential indemnity takes matters to long-term care homes in part because one issue they have raised is their ability to get insurance. Asked about this, the premier followed up to say that he would check in on the issue with Minister of Finance Rod Phillips. "I think everyone deserves insurance, number one, to protect the patients and protect the nurses ... and visitors that come into long-term care."

Testing in Windsor-Essex

Coronavirus testing in the Windsor-Essex area was also the subject of a question in advance of the premier's planned trip to the region tomorrow.

The Windsor-Essex area has been hard hit by COVID-19, with hundreds of positive cases in the farm communities around Leamington and Kingsville, which brought significant challenges for testing.

Health Minister Christine Elliott gave an update on how that effort is proceeding. "[Ontario Chief Coroner] Dr. [Dirk] Huyer has been co-ordinating that, we've been working with the local chief officer of public health in Windsor Essex, along with Public Health Ontario, with Ontario health, and with teams that we've been sending in there," the minister explained.

"Red Cross has been helping with food delivery, and right now [the] Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry is still co-ordinating the approach, which is proving to be very effective. We're still testing large numbers of people and we're not seeing the numbers of total positives that we saw several weeks ago, but the testing is still continuing," she added.

The majority of the on-site testing of migrant farm workers was carried on by Switch Health, a company that engaged Ford friend and former head of PC Caucus Services Jeff Silverstein as a lobbyist.

The NDP, which opposes the contracting out of public health work to private companies, has called on the auditor general to investigate the contract and how it was awarded.

In an email, Ontario Health told QP Briefing it sought requests for proposals for COVID-19 mobile testing services from 15 vendors and Switch Health emerged the successful choice, meeting technical requirements set by the agency. It declined to make a copy of that contract public.

Ontario Health has also contracted with a company called DriverCheck for the testing of truck drivers, the agency said.

Switch Health declined to answer QP Briefing’s questions, but it has updated its LinkedIn profile since our initial story about the NDP’s concerns, removing language that described the company's future as “one that is transparent, adaptable, and above all else — profitable."

The wheels on the bus

A major union is flagging a health and safety concern that could affect the logistics of how kids get to school in the first place.

Unifor National President Jerry Dias issued a warning that school buses will need significant rethinking in order to be safe during the coronavirus. Those famous yellow busses carry as many as 72 kids, and there's only one access point and tight quarters, the union stated.

"This situation must be addressed before there can be a return to school in September. A full reopening, whether the provincial state of emergency is lifted or not, is at jeopardy," said Dias.

"School bus drivers are critical to student transportation and doing it in a safe manner with new protocols in place is of the highest concerns for these workers," added Unifor Ontario Regional Director Naureen Rizvi.

Additionally, many bus drivers are retirees or seniors, Unifor pointed out, highlighting that they are at increased risk. The union adds that drivers have not received their $1,000 attendance bonus for the second half of the shortened school year, a program designed to improve retention among drivers.

Nurse charged for violating health privacy

A Belleville nurse has been charged by the Ontario Provincial Police for 69 counts of violating the Personal Health Information Protection Act over a six-month period in 2018.

Kimberley Ann Hokkanen, age 59, faces the charges.

She is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Belleville on Sept. 3.

The OPP did not immediately respond to a request for more details on the case.