March 12th, 2020

Based on advice from Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and the experts at the COVID-19 Command Table, the Minister of Education has issued a Ministerial Order to close all publicly funded schools in Ontario for two weeks following March break, in response to the emergence in Ontario of COVID-19. This order was approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

This means that Ontario’s publicly funded schools have been ordered to remain closed from March 14 through to April 5, 2020.

At this time, we can confirm the following:

  • This closure includes Board Operated Extended Day Programs in our schools operating during March Break 
    • Families registered in WRDSB operated programs will not be charged fees during this time period
  • All secondary Co-Op placements are postponed during this time

We are working to confirm the status of our child care centres during the closure period.

We are asking students to take their personal belongings from their lockers and desks home with them before March Break.

We know our students, families and staff will have many questions and we are working with our education and health partners to better understand the impact of this decision. We will update you as we learn more.

We continue to be reassured by Region of Waterloo Public Health that the risk to residents of Waterloo Region remains low.

We will continue to provide updates as information becomes available. For information and updates, please refer to these resources:

Categories: News