Ottawa public school trustees won't discuss mask mandates before first day of class

File image of a classroom. (Narongchai Hlawprasert/Adobe Stock Photo/CNN)

Ottawa's public school board will not discuss a possible mandatory mask mandate for elementary and secondary schools before the start of the school year after the Ontario government announced masks would be optional in classrooms this fall.

Trustee Lyra Evans could not convince a majority of the 12 Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees to hold a special meeting to discuss mandatory masking in schools. Evans wanted to hold a meeting to discuss mandatory masks after the Ministry of Education confirmed there would be no mandatory mask requirements in schools during the fall semester.

"The primary hospital that serves my Zone (Monfort Hospital) closed their ER over the weekend due to staff shortages exasperated by COVID," Evans said on Twitter.

"People have asked me if the school board plans to return to masking to reduce the local spread. I will be calling for a meeting to move that we do."

After emailing all trustees, Evans said seven were opposed to holding a special meeting to discuss mask mandates until Ottawa Public Health "explicitly tells us to introduce a mask requirement."

In an interview on Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa at Work, Evans said she’s disappointed trustees won't even discuss a return of a mandatory mask mandate for schools.

"The school board has an obligation to provide education to all students, including students who are immunocompromised and students whose family members are immunocompromised," Evans said. "We need to be taking measures to make sure that those students are safe to return to school."

Evans suggests the Ontario government's decision to make masks optional in schools is political, and hopes Ottawa Public Health steps in with a recommendation for mandatory masking.

"OPH has thus far been very reluctant to give explicit instructions to the school board," she said. "When we reintroduced masking at the spring of last year we did so without explicit instructions and then benchmark that's been set from my colleagues seem to be explicit instructions."

Ottawa Public Health says it is reviewing the updated provincial guidance for the 2022-23 school year, including voluntary masks in schools.

"OPH is in the process of determining how the updated guidance will change the protocols that were in place during the last school year, and how we can best support school communities moving into the new school year," the health unit said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa Wednesday afternoon.

"OPH continues to monitor and assess the local COVID-19 situation in Ottawa and is working with local school boards to prepare for the return to school. This includes helping students, staff, and families understand their personal risk levels and make decisions on reducing the risk of infection for themselves and those around them."

The health unit is recommending people wear masks in indoor public places when physical distancing is not possible.

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board implemented a mandatory mask policy in all schools back in April after the Ontario government lifted the mandatory mask requirements. OCDSB Director of Education Camille Williams-Taylor said the board had the legal authority to implement a mandatory mask bylaw for health and safety reasons; however, the board said students would not be suspended or expelled for refusing to wear a mask in schools.

Evans says a majority of parents are supportive of mandatory mask requirements in schools.

The first OCDSB committee of the whole meeting for the 2022-23 school year is scheduled for Sept. 13, with the first full OCDSB meeting on Sept. 27.