Schools now reporting absenteeism

New provincial system replaces updates provided by boards

School staff in Niagara have an additional daily task to undertake now that in-person classrooms are back in session.

Each morning, the number of staff and student absences from the prior weekday is gathered and input by either the principal or secretary by 11 a.m. into the province’s absence reporting system.

The data from every Ontario school is then uploaded onto a website where families and staff can log on to find a specific school’s most recent absentee numbers.

The Ministry of Education’s new system replaces the daily updates provided by school boards that showed current COVID-19 case counts broken down by school.

Prior to reopening classrooms, the province said, because case numbers were unreliable due to limited PCR testing, it wouldn’t require boards to continue reporting.

Instead, schools are now required to tell families, and involve public health, when its absentee reaches 30 per cent.

Kim Sweeney, chief communications officer for District School Board of Niagara, said schools are reporting on a daily basis but are unable to separate illness-related absences from those related to appointments, weather and more.

“DSBN is reporting all the absences as required by the Ministry of

Education which include more than just illness. It could also include self-isolation,” said Sweeney. “The ministry has asked us to exclude students who are learning online, whether short or long term. We do not mark these students absent in the Absence Reporting Tool and so they are not reflected in our daily data reports.”

Niagara Catholic District School Board communications officer Jennifer Pellegrini said students opting to learn at home are not included in the data and all other absences “are reported as a single group.”

Parents and staff “are not obliged to disclose the reason for an absence,” she added.

“We have reinforced to our staff the importance of reporting the absences in a timely fashion and will continue to comply with the ministry guidance provided.”

Over the past few weeks, teachers unions, parents and some Ontario school boards have expressed concern about a lack of information available for families under the new system, as well as concerns pertaining to the categorization of absentee numbers.

The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said in the Toronto Star it has asked the ministry to help differentiate the numbers and provide families with a better sense of what is happening in their schools.

DSBN parental involvement committee chair Lisa Mooney said “it’s a huge concern” that parents will not have access to the same type of information as they had in the past. She also expressed her confusion as to what counts toward the 30 per cent absence.

Asked if DSBN has the same concerns, board chair Sue Barnett said, “This is a new reporting system, and with any new process, it can take some time to work out the details.”

In a statement, the Welland trustee said principals and staff are working alongside Niagara Region Public Health to encourage and assist families in self-reporting COVID-19 cases on the NRPH public portal, which will help keep staff and families informed.

“They are closely working with NRPH when a case is confirmed at their school, and their ensuring the health and safety protocols are being followed,” said Barnett.

Ontario Principals’ Council president Lisa Collins said the provincial reporting tool cannot provide “perfect data” and the council is concerned that parents are perceiving reported absences as all Covid-related “which is not the case.”

Collins said it would be helpful if the reporting tool reflected absences due to inclement weather. Principals are also advocating to push the deadline to complete the data upload, allowing time to verify student absences “which is contingent on parents reporting.”

But how up-to-date the provincial website is depends on each school. As of Wednesday, absenteeism for the four Niagara schools boards ranged from Jan. 21 to Jan. 25.

Currently 12 local schools are above the 30 per cent threshold — eight Niagara Catholic schools, three with DSBN and one with Conseil scolaire catholique Monavenir.

One school — St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Elementary School in Thorold — was showing an absentee rate (on Jan. 21) of 100 per cent, but Pellegrini said that was “submitted in error” as Friday was a professional activity day.