COVID PROTOCOLS
Screening All staff and students must self-screen every day before attending school. Schools should provide parents with reminders instructions to use the School Screening tool daily. https://covid19.ontario.ca/school-screening/.
Any staff, student, or visitor that does not pass the screening procedures should not attend school.
If it is a STUDENT who is ill:
Students who become ill with symptoms while in school should be separated immediately from the rest of their cohort in a designated room and supervised until they are picked-up.
Notify parents/guardians or emergency contacts to pick up the ill student as soon as possible. They should not use public transportation, including the school bus. If it is an emergency, call 911. Siblings who live in the same household should be sent home as well if they are not fully vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine.
Masks
Student Masks Students in Grades 1 to 12 are required to wear properly fitted, non-medical or cloth masks indoors in school, including in hallways and during classes, as well as on school vehicles. Masks may be temporarily removed indoors for the consumption of food and drink (see Cafeteria Use and Lunch protocols for more detail). When masks are removed, students should maintain a minimum distance of two metres between cohorts and as much distancing as possible within a cohort.
Students are not required to wear masks outdoors, but distancing should be encouraged between cohorts as much as possible. Students may be able to remove their masks for physical activity indoors (read health and physical education), but only when it is safe to do so.
Masking Exemptions Some students, staff and visitors will be exempt from wearing masks in NNDSB schools, buildings and while riding on school buses. We expect all staff and students to be respectful of those who wear masks and those who cannot wear a mask for medical and other reasons for which an exemption applies.
The following individuals may be exempt from wearing masks:
– Individuals with a medical condition/disability that make it difficult to wear a mask. This can include:
– Medical condition, mental health condition, cognitive condition or disability that prevents wearing a mask OR
– Medical condition that makes it difficult to breathe.
– People who require accommodation in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Visitors
Any visitor to a school is required to self-screen and to wear a medical mask (for example, surgical/procedural) while on school premises. A medical mask will be provided by the school if needed. In addition to the requirement for visitors to perform daily self-screening, schools are expected to confirm the daily self-screening of all visitors prior to or upon their arrival at school a. All school visits are by appointment for essential reasons
- Community professional partners and related student services are considered essential
- Additional essential reasons are to be deemed by the principal
- Proof of self-assessment required e. Regular visitors require proof of vaccine
Student Transportation
**Masks are required
The use of non-medical masks for students in Grades JK to 12 is required on school vehicles. Students in kindergarten should be directed to wear a mask on school transportation in accordance with directions received from the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. However, “Children under the age of five years either by birth age or mental development who refuse to wear a face covering and cannot be persuaded to do so should be exempt from wearing masks”. Exceptions should be made for students with medical conditions or special needs that prevent masking.