DAN CEARNS, The Standard
KAWARTHA LAKES: The Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) has repealed a couple of their COVID-19 directives.
At a board meeting, on Tuesday, August 23rd, trustees saw a report from education director Wes Hahn which recommended the board rescind motions regarding mandatory masking of students, from Kindergarten to Grade 12, and regarding the location and the way the public will access Committee of the Whole and Board meetings.
“This is just obviously a governance item to clean up our motions and ensure we rescind ones [which] are no longer needed or required, or [are] able to be put in motion,” Director Hahn explained.
This first repealed motion, which was passed on August 25th, 2020, required all of their students to wear masks when in school.
Now, “[Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health] Dr. Kieran Moore has made it voluntary for mask [wearing] in educational settings,” Director Hahn noted.
The second repealed motion, which was passed on August 18th, 2020, read, “Trustees approve a temporary, indefinite change, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby regular meetings of the Board are held at the Muskoka Education Centre, and meetings of the Committee of the Whole Board continue to be held virtually, with both the public regular and Committee of the Whole public meetings providing audio access to the public via the School Board website.”
Board trustees voted to replace this with a motion which calls for trustees to “resume meeting in-person at the locations outlined in the 2022 Board Meeting schedule [which] trustees approved” and to have the host sites of these meetings “be open to public attendance effective immediately, and, as an alternate opportunity for public viewing of meetings, Regular Board and Committee of the Whole Meetings continue to be available via live stream at tldsb.ca.”