As the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic evolves locally and provincially, directions in our school communities are continually revisited and adjusted, keeping in mind that the health and safety of our students and staff remains our top priority.

After consulting with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU), the senior administrative teams at local school boards have decided to adopt the following measures regarding sports and extracurricular activities for students and staff:

• Boards no longer require students to be fully vaccinated in order to participate in sports and extracurricular activities.
  
• Given that the Ministry of Education has not made any changes regarding mandatory disclosure policies for the education sector, staff coaches will still be required to be fully vaccinated, or subject to regular rapid antigen tests as directed by the current protocol. Non-staff volunteers are still required to be fully vaccinated. Should this change, we will inform all affected individuals directly. (Note: this requirement was lifted as of March 14; coaches and non-staff volunteers are no longer required to provide proof of vaccination)
•  Students and staff are still required to use masks and PPE when not actively playing (ex. sitting on bench or coaching). (Note: this requirement was lifted as of March 21)
•  As no changes have been implemented regarding non-essential visitors in schools, spectators are not allowed to attend events at this time, however, this measure is being examined and more information will be forthcoming. (Note: this requirement was lifted as of March 21; spectators are now allowed to attend.)

We understand that with recent changes to the Reopening Ontario Act that capacity limits have been lifted in some sectors, however we still feel that it is important to proceed cautiously in the best interests of the health and safety of our students and staff.

We anticipate additional changes to provincial guidance related to schools and school communities will be forthcoming from the Ministry of Education. In cooperation with the WECHU, we will continue to review and adjust our recommendations in alignment with provincial direction.

We continue to strongly encourage all members of our school communities to follow all public health guidelines to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

We remain committed to keeping our school communities informed and will continue to communicate any changes in direction as they become available.

Sincerely,

Emelda Byrne

Director of Education, WECDSB

Erin Kelly

Director of Education, GECDSB

Joseph Picard

Director of Education, Csc Providence

Jean-Luc Bernard

Acting Director of Education, CSViamonde