Extracurricular activities could soon resume in Toronto schools but no 'high contact' sports indoors for now
Extracurricular activities could soon resume in Toronto schools but public health officials are recommending that “high contact and high intensity” sports be held outdoors only for the time being.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) announced on the eve of classes resuming that they would pause extra-curricular activities, field trips and mixed-cohort high-contact sports for the month of September on the advice of Toronto Public Health.
The decision represented a significant pivot from earlier in the summer when Education Minister Stephen Lecce repeatedly insisted that students would return to a school environment more closely resembling the pre-pandemic norm.
The pause, however, turned out to be short-lived.
On Monday Toronto Public Health issued new guidance that it says would allow schools to “gradually resume” extracurricular activities once “school routines are established.”
It says that for the time being individuals from different schools and mixed cohorts should “limit interactions” to the outdoors.
It also says that “high contact and high intensity activities” be limited to the outdoors as well.
That could mean that some sports teams, like basketball or volleyball, won’t be able to resume competition just yet.
But Toronto Public Health says that it is recommending that “low contact and low intensity activities” be permitted indoors, so long as participants wear masks and physically distance.
It says that guidelines should be developed to limit the number of extracurricular activities a student can participate in at one time in order to reduce contacts across different cohorts.
It is also recommending that the resumption of extracurricular activities begin with students between the ages of 12 and 17, given that those individuals are eligible to be vaccinated.
The latest guidance also paves the way for the resumption of field trips, though overnight field trips continue to be discouraged.
“A gradual return of field trips can occur, when health and safety protocols including infection prevention and control procedures are well established in the schools, taking into consideration low risk activities and settings,” the guidance states.
While the TDSB and TCDSB did pause extracurricular activities, other boards in the GTA allowed them to resume with precautions.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.