KITCHENER -- High school students and staff in southern Ontario need to complete a provincial COVID-19 screening before they're allowed to come to school.

Students were able to return to the classroom on Monday in Waterloo Region.

Every day, secondary students need to fill out a COVID-19 checklist before class.

"Have you been in contact with anyone, are you feeling these symptoms, are you in a high-risk area like Toronto," said student Neil Fischer.

Students need to show the completed checklist to their teachers.

"It just takes five seconds to do, so it's not like it's a big deal or anything," Fischer said. "If they need to see confirmation, they need to see confirmation."

The completed checklist is part of new enhanced safety measures the province implemented last week.

"There is a slightly higher positivity rate provincially in students 14 to 17 years of age, so it was seen as an enhancement to serve that age group," said Loretta Notten, director of education at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

Notten said students confirm a completed checklist visually or verbally.

"We have set up a provision, so that we hope that, even if they have forgotten to do it at home, it's easily completed once they get to school," she said.

The Waterloo Region District School Board said teachers are doing a visual confirmation now, but will eventually automate the process through an online portal.

School board officials said the verification is meant to give everyone an added level of security and safety. However, a local teachers' union is concerned that students can still come to school even if they don't complete their screening at home.

"They're already in the building, they're already in the classroom," said Patrick Etmanski with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association's Waterloo brand. "If they are positive, then they're already arrived."

Fischer agrees, saying doing the test at school defeats the purpose.

"Honestly, by then, it's too late, because you're already at school," he said. "Who knows what you've touched and what you've spread."