Elementary school in Mississauga closed due to COVID-19 outbreak

By

Published March 10, 2021 at 5:11 pm

classroom2

A Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) elementary school in Mississauga will only offer online learning for seven more days in response to a COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the board’s website, St. Sofia Separate School (3540 Havenwood Drive) temporarily suspended in-person learning following the outbreak. 

“We have learned that several of the cases with COVID-19 that we are investigating at St. Sofia Byzantine Catholic Elementary School may have contracted the virus through the school,” the Region of Peel wrote in a letter to families.

“While we continue to investigate, we are declaring an outbreak to make sure everyone remains as safe as possible.” 

In a letter sent to families on March 3, the school’s principal announced that that the school would temporarily close to in-person learning until March 17.

“Our public health authorities have expanded their automatic dismissal protocol to include other persons, who have had even limited contact with the class, including French teachers, planning time teachers and others. This extra layer of precaution is designed to further reduce the opportunity for potential spread of the virus in our schools,” John Dmytrasz wrote. 

“As a result of this extra vigilance, we are in a position at St. Sofia of having a significant number of teachers directed to self-isolate as a precautionary measure. The temporary absence of this many staff and the challenges in securing occasional teachers to provide staffing relief in the short term, has placed considerable pressure on our ability to provide safe supervision and to maintain operations in an in-person environment at our school.”

An outbreak at a school is declared when one person may have been infected at school by another student or staff member within 14 days of exposure.

According to the board’s website, three students and six staff members have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. 

The Region of Peel’s website says that another Mississauga school, Bishop Scalabrini Separate School, is also experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. The board’s website says two staff members have tested positive for the virus. 

An outbreak at the school was declared on March 8, but the school remains open for in-person learning. 

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising