Coronavirus- All schools to close? [MOD NOTE POST 346

rash

dhaughton99 wrote: »

The best we could think up was email and office365 and focusing on 3rd and 6th. Turns out, not many students in my 2 schools have access to computers at home.

Think Microsoft are offering their Teams platform to all free for 6 months in response to the conoravirus outbreak to help remote working. It can run on phones and tablets so nothing stopping teachers from hosting their classes online using a phone/tablet/pc with webcam. W

Fleetwoodmac

TheValeyard wrote: »

That be a good CBA! Something actually useful.

Is the issue with this though that percentage of alcohol needs to be above 80%.. typical brands vary 30 to 60... time to start distilling poitin or try to find some polish brands at 80 and above.

rainbowtrout

Millem wrote: »

When I asked about getting hand sanitizer I was told that the bottles themselves have too many germs on them!!!
Our place is so yuck at the minute.

I presume there's none in your school so Millem?

rainbowtrout

rash wrote: »

Think Microsoft are offering their Teams platform to all free for 6 months in response to the conoravirus outbreak to help remote working. It can run on phones and tablets so nothing stopping teachers from hosting their classes online using a phone/tablet/pc with webcam. W

Ya we set up our classes on it last week in case we shut down at some stage.

rainbowtrout

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

Is the issue with this though that percentage of alcohol needs to be above 80%.. typical brands vary 30 to 60... time to start distilling poitin or try to find some polish brands at 80 and above.

The ethanol that we buy in to the science lab is absolute ethanol, 99.6% pure, so I can dilute with glycerine in the roughly 2:1 ratio to give a 70% solution which is what is required.

Anyone who does have proper poitin could use that or if anyone has a bottle of absinthe or similar knocking about at home that would be perfect as it is 70% alcohol usually.

Millem

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I presume there's none in your school so Millem?

No

rainbowtrout

Millem wrote: »

No

I can make a bottle in the lab on Tuesday if you want and post it to you at your school. I gave a bottle to the pregnant staff member so she would have it. Granted it won't stop kids coughing and spluttering on her if they are infected, but at least she can disinfect her hands.

r93kaey5p2izun

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

Is the issue with this though that percentage of alcohol needs to be above 80%.. typical brands vary 30 to 60... time to start distilling poitin or try to find some polish brands at 80 and above.

Yes but schools would have access to pure ethanol, isopropanolol and other alcohols. I know there's many litres of propan--1-ol in the flammable press of my old school since it was required for a Coursework B experiment around 2013.

sullivlo

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Many schools have children and teachers who are immuno-compromised. This isn’t remotely like a flu . We have vaccines for flu and some immunity due to exposure to different strains . Covid- 19 is a whole new ballgame .

We have several staff and students who are immunocompromised. One teacher is pregnant and not coming in. None of the immunocompromised students are coming in. Generally, attendance among non-exam years was poor last week. One of our students is in self quarantine based on contact/advice from the HSE.

TheValeyard wrote: »

That be a good CBA! Something actually useful.

If any of mine ask me for an idea tomorrow I know what to tell them!

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Ya we set up our classes on it last week in case we shut down at some stage.

Yeah, I have all of my groups on 365, and am going to borrow a spark visualiser to make some videos of the topics we are covering in my exam years. Ordinarily YouTube would suffice for some topics, however maths is a different story

05eaftqbrs9jlh

sullivlo wrote: »

We have several staff and students who are immunocompromised. One teacher is pregnant and not coming in. None of the immunocompromised students are coming in. Generally, attendance among non-exam years was poor last week. One of our students is in self quarantine based on contact/advice from the HSE.

That's excellent to hear about immunocompromised students and your pregnant colleague. This level of unilateral action would be condemned by Harris and his cohort.

Yeah, I have all of my groups on 365, and am going to borrow a spark visualiser to make some videos of the topics we are covering in my exam years. Ordinarily YouTube would suffice for some topics, however maths is a different story

Khan academy, IXL, YAYmath are excellent resources for remotely teaching maths https://m.youtube.com/user/yaymath/videos

The first two even log hours spent by students if you set their accounts up. The third is just great fun.

sullivlo

Jayda Bitter Cup wrote: »

That's excellent to hear about immunocompromised students and your pregnant colleague. This level of unilateral action would be condemned by Harris and his cohort.


Khan academy, IXL, YAYmath are excellent resources for remotely teaching maths https://m.youtube.com/user/yaymath/videos

The first two even log hours spent by students if you set their accounts up. The third is just great fun.

Yeah I love Khan academy, I just know that some of mine need a little “nudge” (I have all OL classes)

blackbox

blackbox wrote: »

They could bring forward the summer holidays and restart in July if all clear.

Important that kids don't end up with reduced education.

rom wrote: »

They could but they can't. The standardisation of the school year does not allow this to happen.

Standardisation can go out the window in the event of a real emergency. Do you seriously think that kids and teachers should have to go to school in a high risk situation just to keep to "standardisation"?

Alex86Eire

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Hand sanitizer is really just pure ethanol and glycerine in a ratio of 2:1 or thereabouts. Both easily available, and schools have access to ethanol through science suppliers. If you really wanted to push it buying cheap vodka and distilling it in the lab would bring it to the required concentration.

Thanks for this idea. I'll be making some with my 5th and 6th years this week.

I've taught all of my classes how to wash their hands this week but very little else has been done in the school. A hand sanitiser pump has been put at the front door but the kids don't have hot water in their bathroom.

rainbowtrout

Alex86Eire wrote: »

Thanks for this idea. I'll be making some with my 5th and 6th years this week.

I've taught all of my classes how to wash their hands this week but very little else has been done in the school. A hand sanitiser pump has been put at the front door but the kids don't have hot water in their bathroom.

If you have any essential oils at home (tea tree, lavender etc) adding in a few drops can take the sharp alcohol smell from the mix. Students like it as well as my crew were delighted to discover they could choose a scent for their sanitizer.

Teach30

Getting anxious about working from home. I don’t have a home laptop and even if I did internet is very poor. I use my mobile data for checking emails but uploading documents etc is impossible from home. I usually stay after school and use computer there for work. I have exam groups so quite worried about this aspect.

jrosen

I hope the departments dont cave to public pressure and close unnecessarily. There is already call for schools to close.

I know so many people where work from home is not an option including myself, their kids not being in school means they wont be in work. Its already a huge juggling act to balance work and the school calendar throughout the year never mind schools closing.

My husbands company are already putting into practice their protocol for shutdown.

Tordelback

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Opening in the summer won't happen. It's not part of teachers' contracts, it interferes with the marking of the LC and JC which is dependent on teachers working in July.

I know you are trying to be sensible and measured here, but I wonder how can you say something like this if you're even vaguely aware of what's happening elsewhere in the world, and is almost inevitably heading our way?

Exams, summer holidays, teachers' contracts... seriously! This could be 10s of 1000s of lives we're talking about in RoI alone. There's been nearly 50 days of quarantine in Wuhan at this point. Everything can be rescheduled, school years, state exams, university admissions and calendars, whatever is necessary to tackle this.

rainbowtrout

Tordelback wrote: »

I know you are trying to be sensible and measured here, but I wonder how can you say something like this if you're even vaguely aware of what's happening elsewhere in the world, and is almost inevitably heading our way?

Exams, summer holidays, teachers' contracts... seriously! This could be 10s of 1000s of lives we're talking about in RoI alone. There's been nearly 50 days of quarantine in Wuhan at this point. Everything can be rescheduled, school years, state exams, university admissions and calendars, whatever is necessary to tackle this.

But it's not going to be tens of thousands of lives, that's scaremongering in the extreme. The worst affected country in Europe is Italy and the death toll stands at 4.9% which is the highest in Europe too. They also have the oldest population in Europe, and almost all deaths are the over 60s with pre-existing health conditions. The average age of the Italian population is 45, in Ireland it is 36. We have a younger, healthier population. One quarter of the population of Lombardy, one of the worst affected regions is over 65. On the other hand, the UK which would have a much more similar population to Ireland in terms of age and lifestyle (slightly older at average age 40), has a current death toll of 1%. They also have a far higher population density which means a greater chance of passing it on. Someone laughed at my rural comment earlier in the thread, but the reality is, that when you live in a place where there are less people, you meet less people. There is a world outside Dublin and a lot of people still live a rural, agrarian lifestyle which means they don't encounter too many people on a day to day basis.

I'm not saying that the over 60s deserve to die and tough luck. We have a younger population so naturally we will have a lower death toll. Most countries in Europe, including Ireland, have observed what has happened in Italy.

China has a population of 1.5 billion people and 80,000 infected. Just to put it in perspective. You mentioned quarantine in Wuhan. Wuhan has a population of 11 million, more than twice the population of Ireland. The area of Wuhan is approximately 8500m2. The area of County Cork is 7500m2. That's 11 million people living in Cork and chuck in Co. Louth for good measure. In an area that densely populated they had to quarantine.


There was never going to be any coronavirus reported here until after the midterm break, and considering all the flights that go in and out of the country every day, all cases so far that have come from abroad have been traced to Italy.... not any other country. The number of cases will climb, through community transmission, that much is certain, but I don't think we will reach the tens of thousands scenario you are proposing. Schools, colleges etc will shut down if necessary.

Schools were shut for almost a month in Dec 2010/Jan 2011 because of the unprecedented snow and we managed to survive and get our courses covered etc.

EDIT: The fact that you are saying that I am taking the sensible and measured view implies that you are not....

KWAG2019

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I made up a batch of it in the lab last week and word got out and my fifth years asked me to show them how to make it, so we made even more, for them to take away with them.

I hate to rain on your parade but you need to reconsider the manufacture and supply of this. There are EU regulations enforced by the HSA in regard to these and as you are an agent of the school, the school is now liable for the breach of those regs ( I’m assuming that you didn’t check EU/HSA regs and comply). Any resulting liability that may arise from issues with the sanitizer eg if a student has a reaction or injury could be laid at the school’s door. If you acted without approval of the management then you may be a target for litigation.

There maybe another issue in the use of school material purchased from DES money given for a specific purpose not being used for that purpose.

I know that you acted with good intentions but I have seen too many groups caught out by legalities and claim in great bewilderment “but we’re a charity/club/school and those regs don’t apply to us”. And I have seen too many managers think that “I’ll decide what happens in my office/workshop/school” only to realise things are more complex than that. The sad fact is that the law is the law.

Is there a way around it? Maybe explore if students could as part of CBA make this for their own individual use, with parental signatures on some sort of disclaimer. There are specialist legal firms who may advise.

As I said I hate to rain on the parade but I’d hate to see a committed teacher get in trouble for a good deed.

STB.

jrosen wrote: »

I hope the departments dont cave to public pressure and close unnecessarily. There is already call for schools to close.

I know so many people where work from home is not an option including myself, their kids not being in school means they wont be in work. Its already a huge juggling act to balance work and the school calendar throughout the year never mind schools closing.

My husbands company are already putting into practice their protocol for shutdown.

This pandemic is hugely inconvenient isn't it.

Tordelback

rainbowtrout wrote: »

EDIT: The fact that you are saying that I am taking the sensible and measured view implies that you are not....

On the contrary, I'm just taking a very different reading of current facts and projections, and - sensibly - concluding that coursework and exam schedules cannot take precedence over a potentially enormous risk to life.

As neither of us are epidemiologists, all we can do is choose which ones to listen to.

RealJohn

Tordelback wrote: »

On the contrary, I'm just taking a very different reading of current facts and projections, and - sensibly - concluding that coursework and exam schedules cannot take precedence over a potentially enormous risk to life.

I don’t think anyone would argue with this, but I think it would take an enormous disruption to tuition time for disruption and rescheduling of the exams to even be discussed, given the knock on effects that would have. I think that given the notice we’re getting, it would be a reasonable precaution for teachers with exam classes to put contingencies in place for those exam classes. I know I am. If my school is closed, I won’t be treating it as time off, and I’ll be making it clear to my students that I expect them to do likewise.

dhaughton99

I'm working part time in 2 schools. One went all out and installed gel dispensers around most corridors. The other done nothing. One at the front door with nothing in it, even though I asked the caretaker to order some 3 weeks ago to go into the computer rooms.:mad:

rolion

What is realy funny is that this viral thread creates a path to a new teaching style: virtual,online,outside the "brick and mortar" classroom.
I cannot confirm or deny that a virus created in a lab can create conditions for another lab testing field...

I've read few pages of very interesting technological methods of "shoting in the foot" on some forum called CESI, also a well known charity that now acts as a business framework.

Some teachers proposed using tehnology to keep in touch with the students and with other staff during these times.
Other,even showed how to do the online roll and check when and what students are attending the webinars.Like physical attendance in the classrooms.
Some techie company even offered to give access for free to some of their products so that teachers and students can take advantage of the "virtual learning environment". Just to feed their AI and algorythms for free using teachers time and students data.

If this test is competed succesfully,i expect next stage will be ... virtual sessions,virtual teachers,complete virtual classrooms with pre-recorded sessiosn for non-physical teachers !??

I feel like is a bit too much,to be honest !
Im not a teacher ,im a parent but if my children scholl will have to be closed, i will check if the broadband line will develop a cold so that minimum exposure to already flooded techie learning style day by day.

Stay safe,stay warm,be good...

Link to CESI and btw, you will need to let Google knows that you access the site:

https://groups.google.com/forum/embed/?place=forum/cesi-list&theme=default&fragments=true&showsearch=false&showtabs=false&hideforumtitle=true&hidesubject=true&parenturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cesi.ie%2Fcesi-mailing-list%2F#!topic/cesi-list/EHZSOl4-6fQ

And a link to the business charity webinar:
https://groups.google.com/forum/embed/?place=forum/cesi-list&theme=default&fragments=true&showsearch=false&showtabs=false&hideforumtitle=true&hidesubject=true&parenturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cesi.ie%2Fcesi-mailing-list%2F#!topic/cesi-list/cfhhO5WkrH0

Bobtheman

School closures inevitable. Teachers will be asked to communicate with students via email at the least.
CBAs ain't a priority.
The LC and junior will be but it's way too early to predict if they will be delayed.
But mark my words
No St Pat's parades followed by school closures late March or early April

KWAG2019

It’s all about the numbers for the next two weeks. Very likely schools will not reopen after Easter if the numbers are bad.

Bobtheman

KWAG2019 wrote: »

It’s all about the numbers for the next two weeks. Very likely schools will not reopen after Easter if the numbers are bad.

But what happens to the LC and JC??Pushed to the autumn?

km79

https://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0020_2020.pdf

Bobtheman

That circular only really applies to individuals

km79

Bobtheman wrote: »

That circular only really applies to individuals

School Closure
If following HSE advice, a school is closed as a result of Covid-19, the Paymaster will continue to pay the employees.

No mention of making up days etc