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
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.