{"id":28742,"date":"2021-02-18T13:49:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T18:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=28742"},"modified":"2021-02-26T18:05:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T23:05:52","slug":"march-break-delayed-due-to-covid-19-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/march-break-delayed-due-to-covid-19-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"March Break delayed due to COVID-19: Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

York Region students were due to head back to school this week after their expected return on Tuesday was thwarted by snow. Now, they and their families will have to wait a little bit longer for the start of March Break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Thursday, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that March Break would be postponed to April 12 \u2013 16 following advice from Dr. Dave Williams, Ontario\u2019s Chief Medical Officer of Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is critical we follow public health advice to protect schools and avoid a repeat of the concerning spike in youth-related cases over the winter break, when students and staff were out of schools for a prolonged period of time,\u201d said Minister Lecce in a statement. \u201cWe are taking this precaution based on advice from health experts, including the province’s Science Table and the Chief Medical Officer of Health, to help protect against the emerging COVID-19 variants of concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe appreciate the hard work of students and staff in the education sector and I want to be clear: March break is being postponed, not cancelled. To keep schools open, we must keep them free of COVID-19. The actions announced today serve to limit opportunities for congregation – while reaffirming the evidence that schools are safe for students. By continuing to follow public health advice, and by introducing additional safety measures and more testing, we are supporting our collective efforts to keep COVID-19 from entering our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week\u2019s delay was also a chance for the Provincial Government to underscore its position on international travel, noting that this is still inadvisable due to present health concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOntarians should refrain from travelling, particularly given the increase in new variants that pose a direct risk to our country,\u201d said Lecce. \u201cPlease stay home as much as possible and continue following the direction of public health officials so that we can keep schools open and protect our seniors, frontline health workers, and all families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the decision to postpone March Break received a swift response from stakeholders, including the Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario (EFTO), who said keeping break plans in place would have been a \u201cmuch needed\u201d respite for students, teachers, education workers and families alike \u201cwho have been under tremendous pressure\u201d throughout the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s decision to postpone March Break does not take into consideration the mental health and well-being of those involved,\u201d said the EFTO in a statement. \u201cThe postponement of March break shows, yet again, the inadequacies of the Progressive Conservative government\u2019s planning. If there are concerns related to travel and gatherings during March Break, these should be addressed by the government through other means. Why did Premier Doug Ford reopen the economy when it is clear risks remain? Is he concerned that his stay-at-home orders are ineffective? If so, he should address the real issue: this government\u2019s ongoing failure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir decision to postpone, despite unanimous opposition from unions representing educators and other stakeholders in the sector, including all school board associations and the Ontario Principals\u2019 Council, is another example of this government ignoring experts and making decisions that are reckless and baseless. The pattern the government has shown in making decisions while ignoring experts and the front-line workers that are most affected has only served to compound challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis decision demonstrates their lack of understanding about the stress and pressures of learning and working in a pandemic. Teachers and education workers have gone to extraordinary lengths to teach and support students every day since the start of the school year, whether in person or online. Their efforts should be applauded not diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

York Region students were due to head back to school this week after their expected return on Tuesday was thwarted by snow. Now, they and their families will have to wait a little bit longer for the start of March Break. Last Thursday, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that March Break would be postponed […]<\/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-28742","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\/p3D2k4-7tA","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 05:58:17","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\/28742","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=28742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}