{"id":26196,"date":"2020-03-19T19:25:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T23:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26196"},"modified":"2020-03-26T19:57:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T23:57:27","slug":"schools-to-remain-closed-through-april-5-as-province-declares-state-of-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/schools-to-remain-closed-through-april-5-as-province-declares-state-of-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools to remain closed through April 5 as Province declares State of Emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Publicly-funded schools across Ontario will remain closed\nthrough April 5 due to the impact of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement was made last Thursday by Premier Doug\nFord, Health Minister Christine Elliott, and Education Minister Stephen Lecce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe health and well-being of Ontarians is our\ngovernment’s number one priority. Since we first learned of COVID-19 as an\nemerging public health issue, Ontario has been diligently monitoring the\ndeveloping situation to protect the health and well-being of all Ontarians,\u201d\nsaid the Province in a statement. \u201cBased on advice from Dr. David Williams,\nOntario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and the experts at the COVID-19\nCommand Table, the Minister of Education has issued a Ministerial Order to\nclose all publicly funded schools in Ontario for two weeks following March\nbreak, in response to the emergence in Ontario of COVID-19. This order was\napproved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. This means that Ontario schools\nhave been ordered to remain closed from March 14 through to April 5, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe recognize the significant impact this decision will\nhave on families, students, schools, as well as the broader community, but this\nprecaution is necessary to keep people safe. Today’s steps build on a number of\nactions our government has taken in recent days to respond to COVID-19,\nincluding moving forward with additional public health measures, which include\nenhanced access to screening, expanding lab-testing capacity, and implementing\nnew initiatives to keep the public and frontline workers safe. We are further\nsetting aside up to $100 million in contingency funding in the upcoming 2020\nbudget to address challenges related to COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are further mindful of those who work in other public\ninstitutions and buildings. As this situation evolves, Ontario’s COVID-19 Command\nTable is prepared to respond quickly and effectively to any scenario and\nprovide the government with advice on measures to keep the public and frontline\nworkers safe. We are committed to working with partners to keep students safe\nand we expect to provide further information in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local school boards \u2013 and, indeed, students and families\n\u2013 are still looking for answers on how the rest of the school year will\nproceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT),\npreviously scheduled to take place on March 31, has been put on the backburner,\nwith the York Region District School Board seeking further direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents who require the OSSLT to graduate will be\nsupported,\u201d said the York Region District School Board (YRDSB). \u201cMore\ninformation regarding the OSSLT will be made in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough we recognize the significant impact this Provincial\nGovernment decision will have on students, families and the broader school\ncommunity, we appreciate the measures to keep students and families safe,\u201d added\nthe York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boards noted they are also waiting on word on whether\nthe school year will be extended into the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, the YRDSB has compiled a list of online\nresources for students and parents to continue their learning from home.\nResources ranging from math to drama, can be found at www.yrdsb.ca\/Students\/Pages\/Online-Resources.aspx<\/a>.\nFurther resources and updates from the YCDSB can be found at ycdsb.ca\/covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the Government of Ontario announced that it\nis taking decisive action by making an order declaring an emergency under s\n7.0.1 (1) the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. \u201cIn doing so,\nOntario is using every power possible to continue to protect the health and\nsafety of all individuals and families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are facing an unprecedented time in our\nhistory,” said Premier Ford. “This is a decision that was not made\nlightly. COVID-19 constitutes a danger of major proportions. We are taking this\nextraordinary measure because we must offer our full support and every power\npossible to help our health care sector fight the spread of COVID-19. The\nhealth and wellbeing of every Ontarian must be our number one priority.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of this declaration and its associated\norders, the following establishments are legally required to close immediately:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All facilities providing indoor recreational programs;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All public libraries;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All private schools as defined in the Education Act;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All licensed child care centres;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All bars and restaurants, except to the extent that such\nfacilities provide takeout food and delivery;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All theatres including those offering live performances\nof music, dance, and other art forms, as well as cinemas that show movies; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concert venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, all organized public events of over 50 people\nare also prohibited, including parades and events and communal services within\nplaces of worship. These orders were approved by the Lieutenant Governor in\nCouncil and will remain in place until March 31, 2020, at which point they will\nbe reassessed and considered for extension, unless this order is terminated\nearlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are acting on the best advice of our Chief\nMedical Officer of Health and other leading public health officials across the\nprovince,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.\n“We know these measures will affect people’s every day lives, but they are\nnecessary to ensure that we can slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect our\npeople. We’re working with all partners across the system, from public health\nto hospitals and community care, to do everything we can to contain this virus\nand ensure that the system is prepared to respond to any scenario.”<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publicly-funded schools across Ontario will remain closed through April 5 due to the impact of COVID-19. The announcement was made last Thursday by Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Christine Elliott, and Education Minister Stephen Lecce. \u201cThe health and well-being of Ontarians is our government’s number one priority. Since we first learned of COVID-19 as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Ow","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 00:13:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}