School opening update: All Clarington schools to return to in-person learning Feb. 8

Feb. 3, 2021,

The following letter was sent to all Clarington families in the Board following the government’s announcement that schools in the Durham Region Health Department jurisdiction will resume in-person learning beginning Monday, Feb. 8, 2021.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The purpose of this communication is to provide you with an important update with regards to the status of school closures in Clarington.

The provincial government announced today that schools in the jurisdiction of the Durham Region Health Department will be returning to in-person learning on Monday (Feb. 8, 2021). This means that all schools in the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board will be open and will return to in-person learning on Monday. 

COVID-19 Protocols 

As has been the practice since the beginning of the school year, we continue to ask all students and staff returning to in-person learning to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and complete the daily self-assessment for symptoms before attending school: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/ 

NEW – Beginning next week, all secondary students attending school in-person must confirm with their school that they have completed and passed the self-assessment BEFORE attending school. We will be sharing more information with secondary families about this new screening process this week. 

We continue to follow all public health and provincial recommendations, including thorough cleaning and disinfecting of all areas; frequent and proper handwashing by everyone in the building; wearing masks; maintaining physical distancing to the fullest extent possible, and following any other steps directed by the health unit.

NEW – Additionally, the province has mandated that all students from Grade 1 to Grade 12 must wear masks while attending school. We continue to strongly encourage masking for students in kindergarten. New masking requirements are also in place for outdoor activities where physical distancing of at least two-metres is not possible.

We would like to remind families that it is important that students refrain from congregating before school starts and that students return directly home after school.

Transportation 

Bus transportation will resume as usual on Monday.

I want to once again acknowledge how challenging this period of school closure has been for students and their families and recognize the tremendous efforts that our staff, students and parents/guardians have put into making online learning as successful as possible.

We are pleased to welcome all our in-person learners back to school on Monday and we will continue to be diligent with the health protocols that have kept our schools safe since the beginning of September.

Sincerely, 

Joan Carragher
Director of Education