'How is that going to be enforced?': Educators, parents react to Ontario's school COVID-19 outbreak guidelines

Waterloo -

Education experts and parents in Waterloo Region are raising concerns about the province's newly-released school COVID-19 outbreak management plan.

Among the guidelines, different protocols are in place for vaccinated and unvaccinated students if there's a COVID-19 case in a classroom.

Fully vaccinated students or staff can get tested immediately and do not have to self-isolate if they are asymptomatic.

Unvaccinated students and staff must isolate for 10 days and get a COVID-19 test on day seven of their isolation period.

"How is that going to be enforced I guess is the question," said education watchdog Annie Kidder, founder of People for Education. "It's not really clear if schools are going to know about their students or their staff."

Kidder is calling for mandatory vaccines but still believes schools will be safe in the fall.

"I have a lot of empathy for parents who are feeling concerned about it, but I think, in general, schools are safe," she said.

Amid the rising COVID-19 cases and updated guidance just being released weeks before school starts, some parents are hoping school boards will allow families to once again choose to return to virtual learning.

Parent Wendy Ashby opted to send her kids back to the classroom this September, but now she's wanting to change the decision she made in the spring.

"We didn't know the effect the Delta variant was going to have," she said. "They should look at reopening that, if they reopen that just for a matter of a week or a few days to let parents opt in or out."

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board says they will not be re-surveying parents and decisions made in the spring about in-person or virtual learning still stand.

The Waterloo Region District School Board did not immediately respond to request for comment.

A full list of school COVID-19 safety and outbreak guidelines is available here.