Hamilton schools among those moving to remote learning starting Wednesday until at least Jan. 17

Hamilton schools are among those in Ontario that will be closing down after all.

Premier Doug Ford announcedMonday that remote learning will be in place until atleast Jan. 17 across the province, which will offer free emergency child-care for health-care workers and some front-line workersin the meantime.

"I know this isn't the news anyone wants to hear, but with the new variant, the ground is shifting every day," he said during a Monday newsconference.

"Operating schools and ensuring teachers are on the job and not home sick will be a challenge we can not overcome in the short term."

He said the two-week gap would allow for more time for people to get vaccinated and more time to fend off a "tsunami" of new cases and hospitalizations.

Public school board chair wants more details

Last Thursday, the province said schools would reopenJan. 5 instead of Jan. 3.

Memos from the Ministry of Education also said the province would stop reporting COVID-19 cases in schools and child-care settings.

"The announcement on Thursday should'vebeen what happened today ... the timing is just unacceptable,"Dawn Danko, chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, told CBC Hamilton.

"A lot of families are still frustrated, and throughout the pandemic, time and timeagain, we've said to the government we need timely communication, we need clear planning and clear benchmarks so you can see what's coming."

WATCH:Ontario moves school online, bans indoor dining as part of new COVID-19 measures

Ontario moves school online, bans indoor dining as part of new COVID-19 measures

3 years ago

Duration 8:10

Ontario is temporarily moving schools online, closing indoor dining and gyms and pausing non-urgent medical procedures amid record-high COVID-19 case counts.

Danko said she's waiting for news on if and how schools offer three-ply cloth masks to students.She is also calling for focused vaccine clinics for educators and students, and more access to COVID-19 testing.

"To suggest we can just drop contact tracing altogether ... we can't just drop those measures because those were some of the critical layers of protection that we had," shesaid.

"The key questions I have are what additional measures are we going to do in the next two weeks that is going to change the trajectory for education? What is going to allow us to open schools because I'm not hearing anything concrete ... that doesn't make sense to me."

Changingplan feels like 'a dagger,' parent says

Patrick O'Neill, a teacher atOur Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Elementary School and who hasthree young children, said the announcement felt like "a dagger" and is expecting a "hard conversation with the kids tonight."

"My oldest one, who is in Grade 2, she's a fantastic student ... when we go to this online stuff though, she hates school, shedoesn't want to go online, she doesn't like it, it's justnot the same kid and it's sad to see that as a parent," he said.

"As an educator, I'm doing my best to try and keep my own students in the classroom engaged and their spirits up, and they're frustrated as well, and then their parents get frustrated and it's just a bad cycle."

The now-scrappedreturn-to-school plan was met with relief, trepidation and many questions.

Some students were excited to see friends again, but also concerned they may get infected.

"As much as we want a normal life and a normal high school experience, we're willing to sacrifice another month if that means keeping everyone safe and healthy," Grade 11 student Paige Wallace told CBC Hamilton last week.

Education unions and staff said they were worried about the safety of schools.

"You have a classroom full of students eating lunch every day without their masks on. And if this variant is so contagious, how do you expect this not to spread in schools?" Nick de Koning, president ofthe local Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association, said on Thursday.

School boards were scrambling to communicate to families, receivemore N95 masks and more HEPA filter units.

Danko said N95 masks were set to arrive today for the public school board but said she wasn't sure what would happen with any extra HEPA filter units since all classrooms that don't have windows or are already equipped.

She said while there were school outbreaks in December, they didn't shoot up the way COVID-19 cases in the community did.

They, like Hamilton Public Health Services, were in support of keeping schools open.

"Ireally hope and pray we do not pivot," said Pat Daly, chair of Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board said on Thursday.

Danko said she wants to remain optimistic but think families shouldbe prepared for anything including hunkering down for a while.

Hospitalization numbers climb

Ford said high case counts (which are being underreported), hospitalizationsand numberof people missingwork to isolate spurred the province's decision to shift schools to remote learning and shut services including in-person dining and gyms.

Local hospitalizations have climbedwith at least 170 COVID-19 patients in Hamilton hospitals, accordingto data available on Monday.

Hamilton Health Sciences has 113 COVID-19 patients and 13 COVID-19 patients in the intensive-care unit. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton had57 COVID-19 patients and six patients in the ICU with a COVID-related critical illness as of Dec. 31.

Hamilton public health reported 2,271 cases over the weekend and one new death, buthas said local case counts are underreported becausetesting centres can't keep up with demand.

When asked about how families can prepare for whatever is next, Ford said his goal is to "protect the overall system," which includes hospitals, schools, businesses and the economy.