Ottawa's French Catholic school board will inform parents of COVID-19 cases in schools

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

Ottawa's French Catholic school board will continue to notify parents, guardians and staff about COVID-19 cases at school or on a school bus.

The Conseil des Ecoles Catholiques du Centre-Est is following the Ottawa Catholic School Board in continuing to notifying the school community about COVID-19 cases if it becomes aware of positive cases via a rapid antigen or PCR test.

In a letter to parents and guardians, the Conseil des ecoles catholiques du Centre-Est says, "to ensure open and transparent community", it will continue to notify parents, guardians and staff when they receive confirmation of a COVID-19 case.

Starting Monday, the CECCE will notify the school community about a COVID-19 case at school or on a school bus.

"In order to help the school communicate the information, we ask parents and guardians to inform the school if your child receives a positive result from a rapid antigen test carried out at home or following a PCR test," said the CECCE in a letter to parents.

"Management will only communicate information on cases that have been reported to it."

The board says the names of students and staff who test positive will remain confidential.

The Ontario government suspended reporting of COVID-19 cases in classes and schools over the holidays.  The provincial guidelines stated principals would only notify the health unit of a potential outbreak when 30 per cent of students and staff are absent.

Starting Monday, all school boards in Ontario will begin reporting school absences, which will track how many students and staff are physically present in a school on a given day.

OTTAWA CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD

The Ottawa Catholic School Board says parents and caregivers can voluntarily inform the school if their child has tested positive for COVID-19.

"It is important to note that Principals will not be involved in contact tracing, and they will maintain confidentiality at all times. As a reminder, Ottawa Public Health has advised us that most school contacts are not considered high-risk and only need to self-isolate if they show symptoms," the OCSB said.

Parents and caregivers can voluntarily inform the school if their child has tested positive for COVID-19.

OTTAWA CARLETON DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board is creating a voluntary COVID-19 reporting process, which will be posted to a dashboard.

The OCDSB says the new COVID-19 Disclosure Dashboard will share information on COVID-19 cases in schools voluntarily reported by parents, guardians and students.

"Our goal is to be as transparent as possible with the community. This data is self-reported by parents/guardians and/or staff through voluntary reporting and/or normal absence reporting processes and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of it," the OCDSB said.

All three school boards remind parents that students must undergo daily COVID-19 screening before going to class.