TDSB has no plans to reintroduce mask mandate, despite Ottawa's decision to do so

Toronto’s biggest school board has no plans to reintroduce a mandatory masking policy, even after trustees in Ottawa voted in favour of doing so with or without the support of the provincial government.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board voted in favour of a motion requiring that masks be worn in all of its buildings during a meeting on Tuesday, effectively going against the wishes of the Ford government which removed the mandate in most settings last month.

Speaking with CP24 on Wednesday morning, the Toronto District School Board’s Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins said that the province should mandate masking in schools “to get us through the sixth wave” of the pandemic.

But she said that until that happens, the board’s hands are largely tied.

“Right now without the provincial government changing its mandate or public health making additional mandates or statements I don’t see it changing,” she said.

The motion approved by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board on Tuesday did not stipulate when mandatory masking should resume in its buildings.

In a message posted to Twitter, the board said that staff are currently “developing an implementation plan and will provide additional clarification shortly.”

The decision to revive mandatory masking in the Ottawa board comes less than a month after the Ford government lifted the mask requirement for most settings, including schools.

On Wednesday, Russell-Rawlins told CP24 that the TDSB continues to “strongly encourage staff parents and our students to wear masks everyday in our schools and our centres.”

But she suggested that any decision on making masks mandatory in the classroom will have to be made by the provincial government.

“Really what we need is the provincial government to mandate masking to get us through the sixth wave,” she said.

The TDSB previously asked Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore to allow for more time prior to the lifting of the mask mandate, however that request was denied.

During a briefing earlier this week, Moore defended the decision to lift the mask mandate in schools, noting that there has been “no significant rise in the risk of children ending up in intensive care units.”

The latest data from Public Health Ontario suggests that there are currently 42 individuals between the ages of five and 19 in hospital with COVID-19. The number of children in intensive care with COVID-19 is three.

“We've not seen any significant threat to the health of children,” Moore insisted.

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa has previously suggested that she is no longer able to mandate that masks be worn in schools after the province changed legislation to remove the ability of local health officials to issue letters of instruction.

Earlier this week, the Toronto Board of Health voted in favour of a motion to formally request that those powers be restored amid the sixth wave of the pandemic.