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5 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,A pril 28,2022 insidehalton.com Founded in 1991 Peter Watson MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI Jennifer Watson MBA, CFP®, CIM® Accepting new clients. Please visit www.watsoninvestments.com to book a free consultation. Offering safe virtual meetings and e-signatures for new client onboarding. "Our clients enjoy talking about their retirement dreams and we enjoy helping them get there." Peter & Jennifer info@watsoninvestments.com (905) 842 -2100 ANITA ANAND Member of Parliament, Oakville Happy National Volunteer Week to the many volunteers who offer their time and effort to support our Oakville community! T hank you @AnitaAnandMP@AnitaAnandMP@AnitaOakvilleanita.anand@parl.gc.ca The Halton District School Board will contin- ue to support a student's choice to wear a mask or not. The issue surfaced at the April 6 meeting of the board when several trust- ees suggested that staff mount a marketing cam- paign within schools to encourage masking dur- ing this time of soaring COVID-19 cases. There is no discussion at the provincial level, nor at the local public health department, of a return to masking mandates, and therefore no guideline changes at the board, said superintendent of educa- tion Terri Blackwell. "I find it fascinating that our own medical offi- cer of health is saying peo- ple should be masking in- doors when they can't so- cial distance, and that is the definition of our class- rooms," said Burlington trustee Andréa Grebenc. Anecdotally, she knows some students are "scared of not necessarily getting COVID, but being shut down into a remote learning situation again," said Grebenc. "I think that we as a board can do more around our own health and health protection with commu- nications around mask- ing," added Oakville trustee Joanna Oliver. "I understand that the gen- eral public is fed up with masking. The removal of the masking mandate gave everybody some hope that, you know, we're on the tail end of the pandemic, that things are improving, our lives are coming back to normal, but in fact, we're seeing that is not the case." The issue of choice was one that was squarely placed on individuals by the province, responded director of education Cur- tis Ennis. "We're trying to create harmony and acceptance and inclusion within our school spaces, whether you choose to wear masks or choose not to wear masks. One of the things that worries me is that the idea of strongly recom- mending masks in schools will create fric- tion and division in ways that is not necessary." Ennis said he was afraid of the consequenc- es of implementing any kind of strong language around mask wearing when the provincial mes- sage is clear. "And that will create division in our schools, and I think that would be an unfortunate outcome," he said. Oakville trustee Tanya Rocha agreed with the di- rector. "We've been following public health matters and we've always been doing what they've asked us to do. Now that we're giving students the choice to wear or not wear a mask, we need to support their choice," said Rocha. Masks continue to be available in schools for students and staff if they wish to wear one. Masks are still re- quired in schools under the following circum- stances: • returning to school af- ter testing positive for CO- VID-19 and isolating for a minimum of five days; • if someone in your household has COVID-19, you are also required to wear a mask for 10 days af- ter exposure, even if you are not required to self- isolate; • after travel outside the country, masks must be worn for 14 days upon return. For all HDSB screening and isolation require- ments, visit bit.ly/375HOl3. For specific masking information, vis- it bit.ly/36WK5PJ. CHOICE OF MASKING REMAINS WITH PUBLIC BOARD STUDENTS The HDSB will follow the provincial mandate for masking and leave the option up to families. Graham Paine/Metroland KATHY YANCHUS kyanchus@metroland.com NEWS