How this school division in Winnipeg is tracking COVID-19 absences
A school division in Winnipeg has launched an online dashboard that tracks absenteeism to help students, staff and families monitor the impact of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, the Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) launched two dashboards online that allow the public to view the self-reported absences.
"We felt it was important to make these dashboards available to families and staff to help the community see what we're seeing with respect to absences and the trends we're seeing, the patterns we're seeing," LRSD superintendent Christian Michalik told CTV News.
"It provides the community with a glimpse of what we see and hopefully reassures the community that the health and wellbeing of students and staff are front and centre for us."
The development of the dashboards comes after the province announced it would no longer provide close contact notification or letters on individual COVID-19 cases in school. Instead, the province said schools will now provide reports of absenteeism through the regular notification channels to the school community and will monitor staff and student absenteeism and self-reported COVID-19 cases.
One dashboard tracks overall student absence rates and the other tracks COVID-19-related student absences which could be due to a positive test result, a student showing symptoms, or a student in isolation due to the virus.
A third dashboard is being developed to track staff reported absences.
Michalik pointed out the information on the dashboards is only as accurate as the self-reported data parents provide the school.
"Having said that, I'm so impressed by how vigilant everyone's being," Michalik said. "How vigilant parents and guardians are being in sharing that information, and how vigilant our clerical staff in LRSD are to listen carefully and to record that information."
He said the division is being careful not to have any identifying information appear on the dashboards.
The data is backdated to the beginning of the school year, which Michalik said will help parents see patterns and trends.
"Seeing that timeline was important to see patterns, to understand trends, to see what the baseline has been this year in a pandemic, and where things are trending," he said.
The data in the dashboards are updated at the end of every school day at 4:30 p.m.
-with files from CTV's Charles Lefebvre
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Twins from Toronto were Canada's top two female finishers at this year's Boston Marathon
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
opinion Why you should protect your investments by naming a trusted contact person
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
Ottawa injects another $36M into vaccine injury compensation fund
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Accused of burglary at stepmother's home, U.S. senator says she wanted her father's ashes: charges
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
Australian police arrest 7 alleged teen extremists linked to stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church
Australian police arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids across Sydney on Wednesday, as a judge extended a ban on social media platform X sharing video of a knife attack on a bishop that started the criminal investigation.