Schools to close again.. Covid

Please do - it will allow you to share your experiences with like minded people , provide a valuable platform for assessing how shite educational provision was during school closures while freeing this thread up to discuss the current issues at hand - the potential impact of omicron on the functioning of schools. Win win for everyone.

If ICU rates stay stable it's brilliant news, bodes well for the next few months. I'm just not sure schools will have the staff needed to open this Thursday, I know we will struggle and rolling closures or random classes being sent home is not ideal either. The following week we might be ok, people are being more cautious, the situation should improve even without school closures provided everyone stays the course for the next few weeks/months.

Staffing is just going to be a recurring issue, we were only beginning to see it in December and that's with s and s still available, I've no idea how we get to March! I mean we will, we will muddle on as always but having kids back in a classroom less than 14 days from Christmas day just seems like an unnecessary extra gamble when it would cost 2 days at Easter to close for the extra couple of days needed for an infection break

The government could be using this time to sort out sending out antigen tests to all students so they can test weekly/ twice weekly for the next few weeks.

When will schools know if they have enough staff? Principals are unlikely to o contact teachers before Thursday to find out who’s isolating/restricting so won’t feasibly know their own situation until Thursday morning.

Because gardai, fire service and many other public sector roles are public facing and can't work from home like many in the private sector can. By all accounts retail and hospitality are facing similiar, increasing absenteeism.

Multiple restaurants/takeaways closed around me due to covid cases. These are private businesses. This isn't just the public service they just happen to be front facing so it's more obvious. You don't go looking for a guard or nurse if your grand, grabbing a pizza is different.

I would also point out that they are working in high risk environments for catching Covid where avoiding risk may be difficult. Most of the staff in my place wohld be able to teach online or do a good bit of their jobs with Covid but they can't exactly rock up to the school while positive. Almost all my family and friends who have undergrads or more are working from home.

I would be fairly certain you are right .

A long timer on my ignore list but the new site has messed that up

In construction going off our current info we're planning 25% to 33% absences this week.

Now we do have a lot of travelling and all the extra difficulties.

Several suppliers were in contact over break to stay they'll have delivery issues.

BBC reporting 25% absences projected

There are posters claiming to be teachers who definitely are not. I'd bet my house on it.

Schools have ended up very short-staffed on account of close contact isolations and they have and may continue to have to enlist the support of graduates from other fields to help out with S&S, but even the most desperate of principals would cover a class themselves before letting someone with a reading age of 'Facebook' within 10metres of their students, never mind 2.

Your actually right I'd say, I'm confusing keeping things on the road and what should be happening or is legally covered.......a symptom of the times I suppose. But yeah, it's definitely happening in a lot of post primary schools I know. Frankly the SNAs would have good behavioral management, better than most dips or random grads for sure!

Our school community managed ok up till Dec since then covid has really hit our place - we now have outbreaks in a number of classes which dominoed over xmas with the inevitable knock on effect on staff - that’s only the cases we know about.

Testing is reaching capacity with a positivity rate in and around 49 % of swabs taken. how you fail to see that that has real time impacts on staffing across the economy is incredulous. It is one of the reasons that rules around isolating of close contacts is changing and why they are talking about derogations from close contact guidance for certain workers.

Lines are blurry with SNAs covid or not 🤷‍♂️ the lack of minimum qualifications and a department of education who can't seem to make their mind up as to what our actual role is on a year to year basis doesn't help anything. Sure it's only a year and a half ago where they tried to redeploy us to be medical assistants 🤣

All things are not equal

uk are advising employers to expect up to 25% absences over next while

meanwhile we still await update on further muddying of covid isolation waters -

Government to consider easing some self-isolation rules - Ryan

https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0102/1269520-covid19-schools-hospitals/

Cant see a delay reopening them. The main issue not reopening is the impact it has on the whole economy. Everbody is affected. A lot of people without covid cant go to work thus impacting on business who might already be suffering staffing issues because of covid and close contacts etc. Its a mini lockdown of sorts and makes zero sense. Omicron causes little to no medical issues in anyone. It's time to plough through this and the schools playing their part is critical.

Have you given up entirely on pretending to be a teacher? You seem more interested in overtly attacking the profession you’re pretending to be a part of.

"Omicron causes little to no medical issues in anyone."

Is COVID over so?

Are the DOE supposed to be organising hepa filters for schools or is down to individual principals to do this or are we being told hepas make no difference?

Im a parent of two primary school kids and I haven’t heard much information about these filters from the school or department. If it was a case of funds, I think parents would be willing to plug the gap.

My understanding is it’s about €600 per unit, so if there’s 30 students that’s €20 per parents.

What’s the official guidance on this? Thanks

Almost