The region’s high school gyms are now open for community bookings again, and more school facilities will be available in coming weeks.
The Waterloo Region District School Board last week announced they are cautiously reopening facilities for use by the public.
The reopening is in four phases, beginning with allowing secondary school gyms to be booked during the weekends in phase one, which began the first week of April. Spectators are not allowed.
This will be followed by opening elementary school gyms on the weekends in phase two, then weeknight use of all gyms in phase three.
Finally, weeknight and weekend use of all other spaces in schools like classrooms and libraries will follow in phase four.
“Staffing additional hours of operation are a concern,” said Matthew Gerard, superintendent, business services and treasurer of the board, in an email.
“We need to take a cautious and phased approach to reopening our community use of schools.”
The announcement noted that this phased plan could change due to provincial guidelines.
Community members can book the school facilities via the school board’s usual online booking process.
Groups that are already in the school board’s booking system with permits previously submitted and groups that had spaces and times they held in the previous school year will have priority, says Gerard.
There are still spaces available for others to book as some groups found other ways to host their events, leaving cancellation spaces.
The school board will monitor public health status provincially and regionally and consult with public health and community partners during this phased re-opening, according to the announcement.
