She also said that Toronto public health is looking into what further enhancements could be put in place to create an even higher standard of safety before schools reopen.
As soon as we can get our children back to school in a safe manner, in a manner that actually supports their safety and the safety of their teachers and all those that are required to run our schools, thats what were looking for, De Villa said.
The province also announced Monday it has allocated $341 million of federal funding to school boards to bolster COVID-19 safety.
The funding will be used for a variety of measures including to hire more cleaning staff, buy personal protective equipment, and enhance air filtration in schools.
The province also provided more details on its previously announced plan to introduce asymptomatic school testing across the province.
Ministry officials said Ontario will have the capacity to complete 25,000 lab tests, and 25,000 antigen rapid tests per week, but could not say how long it will take to reach those numbers.
The government also said it will allow university students pursuing teaching degrees to work as substitute teachers this year in an effort to deal with educator shortages due to the pandemic.
The province is making a temporary change to its teacher certification program to allow the students to work in schools.
They must be enrolled in a current program and have successfully completed a portion of it. They must also be scheduled to complete the program by Dec. 31.
