Schools and Covid 19 (part 5) **Mod warnings in OP**

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420070#Comment_118420070

Safe means that it is or can be a very controlled environment, as safe as it can be under the present circumstances. HSE data also suggests that school have little effect on the prevalence of COVID infection.

gladerunner

Why did they ask us to cancel all our plans over Christmas, when its now expected to bring it home from school on the first week of January ?

RocketRaccoon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420181#Comment_118420181

Imagine being this clueless and out of touch with reality.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420181#Comment_118420181

Yep because that has worked really well for the UK hasn't it!

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420256#Comment_118420256

And more than likely has no children in school to worry about, the old saying mother Ireland is still rearing them. Known as gobshites.

snor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118419480#Comment_118419480

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118256235#Comment_118256235

This is my biggest concern. We always had inequality in education, but the current situation exacerbates this.

I teach in a secondary Deis school. The vaccination rates are lower than average. Hence more kids and their families will get Covid, more teachers sick/isolating etc. hence higher absenteeism.

add this to missing a quarter of the year in school last year, and the fact that there is little spare cash in our school community for grinds etc. I can try to give extra classes etc to those who miss important topics etc but this will be a challenge.

They all have to sit the same exam at the end of the day. My children go to an non-Deis (not private) school. And the difference is black and white. I hate inequality - I don’t know what the answer is but just hate seeing my own students loose out.

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118419793#Comment_118419793

The hospitality industry employees hundreds of thousands of people.

Keeping hospitality closed will damage the economy that funds the health service.

It puts people out of work who are struggling to rent or pay mortgages.

It puts businesses to the wall.

It ruins the tourism industry which helps the economy.

Schools should be open without a doubt but so should hospitality be open fully.

If you are working in hospitality or are a business owner then it is a necessity that hospitality stays open.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420070#Comment_118420070

Government been honest with us.

Having installed IR heaters so that classes can both be ventilated and heated at the same time.

High grade HEPA filters in each class.

Poper contact tracing

Regular use of antigen testing, you can get ones that collect saliva in a funnel for smaller kids

More subiture teaches to cover absence.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420015#Comment_118420015

Agree with this absolutely.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420242#Comment_118420242

It's like the headline I saw yesterday somewhere saying Holohan says it is "likely" that children will catch Covid in the coming weeks.

He is dead late to that party, it has already happened for a lot of us.Is he only catching on to that now?

Midnight Sundance

I'm sick of all these "experts" that know how safe or unsafe a classroom is and seem to know how to run a school if there are many staff missing.

I'd love to see them come in to my room for a day or two and see if they still hold the same opinion.

We have windows open all day.poor children are froze and we've not even had a harsh weather yet. The light is constantly red telling me that the air is poor quality.

I 100percent don't want to go back to online teaching and do feel that we should be back teaching in schools, HOWEVER, don't tell me it's safe or make light of the situation I've to deal with every day.

If we send a kid home because they are unwell, we get a myriad of abuse from parents because little Johnny only has a cold but they refuse to get a pcr test and end up sending child back the next day or two. Principal is no use, let's them back without proof of pcr and they continued to cough and snot all over the place for the rest of the week . (And beofe you say it, I've 2 children in creche who have paths worn to pcr test centre cos they are sick 360 days a year at this stage)

I'm dreading going back because I know I'll be met with more kids coming in , more than likely with covid symptoms and having to listen to parents shout at me because they are being sent home.

If the government want the classes to be safe then provide the flippin proper safety gear. Proper masks and filtration shouldn't be something that we have to beg for. I dont know why parents aren't going mad at the government for all the lies they are spinning them about what procedures are being put in place. "Pods" aka group seating have always been there. Just because you change the name doesn't make it any safer.

the corpo

Pods, social distancing and hand hygiene are now all meaningless with regards to covid, certainly in a classroom. All that matters is cleaning the air. In the grand scheme of things it is not overly expensive to provide proper filtration with guidance on how to use it (hepa filters aren't a license to close windows etc) and FFP2 masks.

I absolutely want the kids back in school tomorrow, but I think it's shameful the Department haven't done anything more to make the buildings as safe as possible, and reduce risk of class closures or overall closures. I mean, just, why not???

the corpo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420657#Comment_118420657

Yeah, but he said they won't catch in school, it will be from household contacts...

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420242#Comment_118420242

Because of the hugely social nature of Christmas.

airy fairy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420403#Comment_118420403

Mine go to a community school, not Deis. (The delegation of Deis is another contender for an overhaul but that's for another day). But how do they seem worse than regular schools? Do we not have the same issues with absent teachers on both sides? Not all those parents sending kids to a non Deis school can afford grinds and have a better grip on the pandemic than those on Deis schools.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420835#Comment_118420835

Two kids in my kid's class got it in the school from one child at their table.Not sure where that one picked it up...elsewhere.A fourth caught it from his parents.My own and one other, I can only assume school although I am entirely clear how, since they don't mix with the first 2 cases.But look, it happened, it was going to come eventually.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420015#Comment_118420015

Schools (and creches) are safe.

My 2 were straight back to creche yesterday, I did not feel guilty leaving them off. I didn't feel I was putting them in danger. It is clear this virus is pretty much zero risk for kids and very small risk for the overwhelming majority of adults. If they were of school age I'd be dropping them off tomorrow morning with the same feelings.

I accept that we're likely to get it at some point in the next few weeks or months, and that's just the way it goes.

It's time to crack on.

Van.Bosch

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420972#Comment_118420972

Spot on.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420401#Comment_118420401

"Children's education is more important than socialising over Chriatmas."

Children's state run child care is more important than socialising over Christmas. Let people be honest - this is about child care. By all means open schools for that reason but please don't insult our intelligence by telling us repeatedly that schools are magically 'safer' places for children to congregate. Not that same children will suffer hugely from Covid but their teachers, assistants and relatives may when bugs brought back from schools.

iamwhoiam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421002#Comment_118421002

So , do teachers send their own children to school just for childcare ? What an insult to teachers to consider them child carers

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421020#Comment_118421020

Posters like Furze99 should be just ignored - they show very little intelligence if they think schools are childcare. Hopefully they are not a teacher!

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421020#Comment_118421020

Doesn't really matter what teachers think - that's the daily reality for working (and some non working) parents. And yes, teachers will send their own children to school so that they can work.

Corby Trouser Press

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421053#Comment_118421053

Yes this is the issue.

Online classes may have done for 3rd level for a while but they were never delivering a proper education service to primary and secondary.

It doesn’t matter if teachers are insulted by it or not but schools are the largest part of the states childcare service.

Always have been, always will be.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118420972#Comment_118420972

Which is grand so long as members of staff in your child's creche don't suddenly come down with Covid themselves. Which is exactly what has happened with my own son's creche. They were due to reopen today but rang me yesterday to say they can no longer take his pod group again until "sometime next week at the earliest, best case" because two members of staff are in isolation having contracted Covid over Christmas.

Which is exactly how schools are going to operate for the foreseeable.

Parents will have no idea from one day to the next whether their child will be able to go to creche or school, and if they are sent home/told not to come in, for how long that will be the case. Particularly hard in the case of schools where transport might be involved, you could send your child in only to get a call/text home to come and collect them because there's no teacher or supervisor available.

Schools are going to be officially open from tomorrow but I suspect the reality will ultimately be very different and extremely unpredictable.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421199#Comment_118421199

This is still better than closing schools.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421199#Comment_118421199

So, close all schools because some might have to close?

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421246#Comment_118421246

In theory, yes, but I suspect in reality it's going to ultimately result in closures by another name along with the added chaos.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421052#Comment_118421052

I've an ever growing ignore list, click on their profile, top right there is a drop down to ignore them

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421314#Comment_118421314

In reality the majority of pupils are going to be in school the majority of the time.

Bananaleaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118421563#Comment_118421563

Have you written to the dept of education and asked them? They're the ones saying it so they will be best positioned to respond. They are quick enough to reply to emails in fairness.