GUELPH – Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) officials say they have weathered a COVID-19 “absenteeism storm,” with student and staff absences down significantly over the last two weeks.
But given the sixth wave is ongoing, the board is also implementing a regular reporting tool for self-reported cases to each school.
“Since we last met in March and provided this report to trustees, our absenteeism and a prevalence of COVID-19 in our schools mirrored what was happening across our communities,” superintendent of education Brent McDonald said in an April 26 board meeting.
“We saw a peak in the majority of our schools in early April and over the past two weeks have seen a slow but steady decline … in absenteeism rates both amongst students and staff.”
He said as cases increased in early April in the school community and “the impact on absenteeism in schools manifested itself in increases in unfilled vacancies,” the board has refocused its efforts of emphasizing the importance of masking.
McDonald added the return from March break on March 21 saw inconsistent mask usage, but recently the board has seen a “modest increase” in masking in schools.
“While not mandated, our ask of staff and students to wear masks while indoors has had a positive impact,” he said.
He added the board wants to ensure the benefits of masking are clearly shared and messaged in the school community.
Self-reporting cases in schools
During the monthly update, McDonald also announced the board will be providing a daily report of COVID-19 cases that have been self-reported to each school.
The tool will be implemented on a school-by-school basis and updated daily on the school’s website.
“As we do not currently have this data shared by public health as we have previously, we wanted to do everything we could do to provides information and updates to families about self-reported cases in our schools,” he said.
McDonald explained that each day, schools will tally the number of staff and students who have voluntarily self-reported positive cases and post the information to the school’s website.
“As case numbers reduce, we may move away from the reporting feature but recognize that at present, it is valuable information for families during this most recent wave,” he said.
“As a board, we continue to know how important quick access to information and data is to our families, students and staff.”
He noted the board’s absence tracking pilot also continues to be updated daily, allowing staff to monitor absenteeism rates and share the information with the public.
As of April 25, the board reported two schools exceeded their attendance threshold and there were 320 staff absences.
On April 14, those numbers were 28 schools and 412 staff absences (570 absences on April 8).
“We are very pleased with the data it has continued to provide on the landscape and impact of COVID-19 across our system,” McDonald explained.
“We feel that we have weathered a bit of an absenteeism storm without having to look to close classes.”
