Schools to close again.. Covid

From who?

fir the first time in months the Covid is not the main headline on any of the main media websites . Not a thing about schools either.

I now fully believe they will open and it will be left once again to staff on the ground to keep them open .

The inspections must go on as well. No subs available but they must go on even though it it means more teachers must be covered during those days . Madness

At this stage any teacher who wishes to be vaccinated is vaccinated. I certainly don't want school to close because some individuals don't want to get a vaccine.

I think some subjects are still only starting out with the new JC, so for another while yet I'd say.

They really are the worst days

It's the level of condescension at them that gets me. I mean thank God for the JCT teaching me the value of post-its because God knows I'd never have taught an engaging class only for them. 😑😑😑

I neglected to say all those meetings are held in person in the school as well

On Christmas Eve, there was an announcement, listed as breaking news, that there would be a delayed school reopening to Tuesday 11 January 2022.

Did anyone else hear that? I can find no reference to it since, to understand if it was a recommendation or an actual measure to be adopted. There is no reference on the Newstalk site, or anywhere else. Did they jump the gun in saying it on air?

Am I imagining things?

Are they my feet?

You could be right but I really hope you are incorrect in your prediction.

Further school closure will have minimal impact on community transmission therefore will not help the hospital situation.

Also what good would one week do, COVID will still be there the following week.

The news story was ran approx one hour after someone incorrectly posted the dec 2020 circular about extended school holidays on boards ………….

Guesswork ^^^

Just wait till LCT days start 🤣

Every classroom that has students in it will need to have an adult supervising it.

Classes or groups cannot be merged, for a number of reasons, Covid, different class groups/subjects and physical space in a room being 3 off the top of my head.

There are teachers available, subs whose only job it is to cover classes and then teachers who are teaching their own classes but have a couple of 40min periods free a week where they could stand in. These free classes are not in endless supply, but there has been funding provided to schools to find more of these hours (if they can)

With isolating teachers, a principal will have some kind of an idea about absence numbers as days go on, but yes, they will have no way of knowing the full impact for sure until that morning.

If things get very bad you could see something like Transition Year students being sent home and then teachers of those classes being used to sub in for isolating teachers.

If that happens, there would be no live classes at home for TYs as teachers would be tied up elsewhere.

Based on our current numbers I'd wonder about opening at all. Very little s and s, maybe a few days worth left. If absense is running at 20-30% in a school it's effectively not really a runner. Keep the exam years is probably a solid plan but, depending on who's out, that could be difficult too. As outlined above, simple solutions don't work in secondary with the complexities of timetabling.

On the numbers that mean you have to close, again it's difficult to say. If someone with a few hours if support or an ancillary role like BFL is out, no issue. You could take all of them out and the school would run. Now take out your Irish, French, German, Maths, Geog ect teachers with 21.20 on their timetables every year and it's looking a lot shakier a lot faster.

The lack of teachers is something no one seems vaguely concerned about in the media.......it will literally be the reason kids are sent home now, I wonder will that make people sit up and take notice. It's chronic in urban areas and it is absolutely leading to a difference in the quality of education geographically in the country

And primary completely reliant on subs?

Or do they end up reliant on unqualified eg SNA?

I'd say lot of subs be reticent going in this week and risk having to isolate for 10 days, when paid day rate?

SNAs are def being used at secondary, I wouldn't be sure on primary because they are younger and it's the whole day. SET are def being used, the provision for kids with additional needs has been decimated.....again without much word from the DOE.

From what I know subs aren't moving around anyway. It's basically impossible to get any teacher in Dublin, if they are in a school they are on full hours subbing. There is very little to no movement in the system. Dips being used to a huge extent too, and people who literally just have a degree, no actual teaching qualification. People should be pissed, if their nurse wasn't qualified they'd be up in arms but some lad with a degree in business and no pedagogical knowledge is grand teaching exam years Irish? Madness really

To be fair to my principal, SET and SNAs haven't been touched at all.

We have heaps of unqualified subs though. A lot, as you say, who are from different sectors entirely with no desire to teach at all. None of them, to my knowledge, are teaching though, just supervising classrooms. The end result is the same however, low to no levels of teaching/learning.

Hmm I'm not sure that will get much support. I wouldn't be overly opposed to it as long as we were guaranteed that they would 100 per cent reopen on the 10th. I think some teachers want longer though for various reasons. Probably the end of January or something silly like that.

Seems to be the equivalent to the posters who declare that they cycle but believe cyclists should be flogged daily at dawn for their very existance.

This thread is about school reopening, not what was or wasn't done in the past. You are literally lurking and waiting to make the same comment over and over and its completely pointless. If you have any thoughts on epidemiology or provision of cover or the factors impacting schools returning in general we are all ears!

Please just start your own thread called "teachers didn't do online learning" to asuage your own guilt. Most of us are focused on the issues facing our society and how it will effect our school communities and generally (very obvious from the threads at the time) People on here worked extremely hard and we're very generous with their skill sets.