To Whom It May Concern,

As grade 8 students who attend BDPS in the Thames Valley District School Board, we currently do not feel safe at school. Students in our class have tested positive for COVID-19, making our classmates and ourselves, a close contact with the virus. It has been decided by the Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, and the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, that although we could very well have the virus, our teacher is not allowed to notify anyone in our class that they are a close contact of COVID-19. We simply feel as though it is a right of ours, to know if we may have the virus. 

It has been taken into consideration that testing sites are flooded with people getting tested, as well as a shortage of nurses to do the testing, though we don't feel that our health and safety should be put on the line because of an issue that isn't ours to solve. From the beginning of this pandemic, we were held in many different lockdowns, as well as being told to stay in, no visiting, to only go out for mandatory reasons, and were given mask and sanitizing mandates. The rules were strict. Now you're playing hot potato with the rules, and once again, throwing our health and safety out the window.

Many students, like ourselves, feel unsafe at school because of the removal of contact tracing and believe we have a right to feel safe at school. By signing this petition in favour of reinstating contact tracing, we are making schools throughout TVDSB much more protected and safe for students and staff. Thank you for your time. Please take this into consideration.

Sincerely, The grade 8 students of BDPS and TVDSB.