Schools Closing

seriouslysweet

Ok so to begin with I've no desire to be off tomorrow but wondering what conditions have to be in place for them to close. Also, if a school does close do we have to make up the day or days again? I can't seem to find anything remotely official about this online. Thanks

Ok, back to study! Great day for it!

deelite

When the schools closed earlier this year (it was a nationwide directive issued by the Dept of Education) - the days did not have to be made up. I think if the school itself decides not to open then the days have to be made up.

byhookorbycrook

;)The DES will say they have to be made up, IF you ask.

delta_bravo

Ours is not opening until later in the morning at the moment and may not be opening at all depending on an early morning inspection.

spurious

I passed Warrenmount Primary earlier today and they were putting up a notice saying it was closed tomorrow and to check their website.

rainbowtrout

It's not so bad in this part of the world (for once) although that could change overnight. We never close, there would want to be two feet of snow and no shovels in the county before our school is shut down. We were closed for the official shut down in January of course, but were the only school open in a 20 mile radius the week before Christmas last year.

stars in eyes

rainbowtrout wrote: »

It's not so bad in this part of the world (for once) although that could change overnight. We never close, there would want to be two feet of snow and no shovels in the county before our school is shut down. We were closed for the official shut down in January of course, but were the only school open in a 20 mile radius the week before Christmas last year.

I am a concerned parent who is struggling to get the kids to school. All the buses have been cancelled, but some parents are car pooling to get there kids into school. the school has 3/4 good attendance for last 2 days.

what happens in terms of truancy officers ect if my child is in the 1/4 not managing to make it into school?

byhookorbycrook

Stars, it will not impact on the NEWB unless the child misses 20 days and even then that the school are concerned. If conditions are bad, it's not like ye are gone off to Florida on holidays

E.T.

Truancy officers! We've reported kids for missing 60+ days of school and nothing happened! If a child does miss 20 days then the school must report it to the National Education Welfare Board. Who then do nothing because they're completely understaffed.

If you think it's dangerous trying to get to the school then just send in a note explaining this when you do send your children back in. It's totally your decision in this case unless the school decides to close.

stars in eyes

Thanks lads,

been surfing and getting informed. Me thinks this weather will be with us for quite sometime, so will contact "newb" to see what can be done. just really hate not getting them to school when they are well enough.

thanks again

TheDriver

NEWB will say nothing stars because school closure is a safety issue at the decision of the BOM, NEWB is merely to do with attendance when the school is open.
And NEWB is excellent at their jobs but they are overworked.

Fuinseog

once more we teachers have become a laughing stock. my school is closed, although there is only a bit of snow.

gaeilgebeo

Fuinseog wrote: »

once more we teachers have become a laughing stock. my school is closed, although there is only a bit of snow.

Don't buy into the media spin on teachers.
It's not our fault schools are closed.

peanuthead

gaeilgebeo wrote: »

Don't buy into the media spin on teachers.
It's not our fault schools are closed.

+1 and tbh it's not the snow thats the problem - it's the ice.

Fuinseog

peanuthead wrote: »

+1 and tbh it's not the snow thats the problem - it's the ice.

you just have to drive with a little more care, something Irish drivers find hard to do. the winter is by no means over. we could have a repeat performance in January.

rainbowtrout

Fuinseog wrote: »

once more we teachers have become a laughing stock. my school is closed, although there is only a bit of snow.

Depends where you are though.

I live in the town I teach in and it's fine for driving and walking (within reason) so I could get to school no problem but the roads outside the town where most of our students come from are lethal and none of the buses made it in last week. We finally shut down today and yesterday. Plenty of our staff come from afar too.

peanuthead

Fuinseog wrote: »

you just have to drive with a little more care, something Irish drivers find hard to do. the winter is by no means over. we could have a repeat performance in January.

I agree completely. People have been giving out the last few days about slipping and sliding and to be honest, if you're careful, you can avoid a lot of that. However, I am a very careful driver and those roads are still lethal. I'm not hitting anything but I am very very stressed out getting to and from work.

Doesn't warrant a day off though.

However, I suppose what I meant by my comment was that the snow shouldn't be a reason not to go to work unless you're snowed in. It's a lot easier to drive in the snow than in the ice. I was off last week and would personally have preferred this week off. Last week I was still out and about, I got my hair done, met my friends and did some shopping. This week I would go nowhere unless I had to.

spurious

For those of us that are non-drivers, the state of the footpaths is a big issue.

implausible

It's all Health & Safety lads. If little Johnny falls out in the park, he picks himself up again; if he falls in a school-yard, he sues the school for negligence in not gritting the section he fell on and for not having at least two members of staff lying on the ground to break his fall:rolleyes: We had a young fella last year fire a snowball at a passing motorist, who got out of his car and gave him a (well-deserved imo) black eye. Guess who the parents blamed?

Many schools have a majority of schools whose students are bussed in. The bus drivers have the same concerns about safety.

Did anyone see this article by Kevin Myers in that rag of a broadsheet paper today? My only response is :mad:

rainbowtrout

deemark wrote: »

Did anyone see this article by Kevin Myers in that rag of a broadsheet paper today? My only response is :mad:

:mad: What a tool

I wonder if he might explain why I had only 7 second years in my class last Friday afternoon when I normally have 24??? We didn't close down all of last week and it was the students that were staying away not the teachers.

We had some job keeping the students indoors at break and lunch. All they wanted to do was slide around on the ice outside and throw snowballs at each other and the passing traffic. As has already been mentioned - it's a claim waiting to happen.

Maybe Kevin would take a different view if he was stuck in the tailback yesterday evening from Sligo to Boyle. It's only 25 miles between the two but most people I know took 3 and a half hours to do the journey... and that was on the N4.

roxychix

yeah it was passed around the staffroom today:mad:! lets just say it didn't go down well and words were expressed that definitely should not be repeated:D Kevin Myers like to take any opportunity to slag us teachers off!

spurious

Why anyone above the age of reason buys that rag the Independent is beyond me. Perhaps it's because a lot of the time it's given away free.
If they're not trying to scare people by mentioning the bogeymen Shinners, they're bashing teachers.

#15

spurious wrote: »

If they're not trying to scare people by mentioning the bogeymen Shinners, they're bashing teachers.

You forgot to mention
- getting facts wrong
- sloppy writing/editing
- cheerleading the property boom
- showing incredible bias in reporting

etc etc.


People shouldn't get worked up about this article. It's by Kevin Myers and it's in the Indo.

E.T.

Completely agree #15 - it's really not worth getting worked up about. It's a rehash of ignorant, ill-informed rubbish he's written before about teachers. We rang all the parents to tell them we were closed and there wasn't one single negative comment. The majority of people can see that schools are closed because of safety. This kind of whinging, bitching article appeals to people who'll find something to whinge and bitch about, no matter what.

killbillvol2

We were closed most of last week. I kept parents updated on Facebook and, apart from a bit of good-natured slagging, there wasn't a single comment disagreeing with the fact that the school should have been closed. Outside of the Indo and the morons who read it as gospel people understand why schools are closed.

We've been open this week. The attendance on Monday was 43%, Tuesday 51% and today 61%. Parents are keeping children at home because it's dangerous to let them out or bring them to school in some estates.

#15

E.T. wrote: »

Completely agree #15 - it's really not worth getting worked up about. It's a rehash of ignorant, ill-informed rubbish he's written before about teachers. We rang all the parents to tell them we were closed and there wasn't one single negative comment. The majority of people can see that schools are closed because of safety. This kind of whinging, bitching article appeals to people who'll find something to whinge and bitch about, no matter what.

There was an AH thread about this yesterday. Which really is the target market for Myers.
It's worth reading through the thread for a laugh - stupidity abounds.

E.T.

Thanks #15 - had to go and read that thread! It's actually fairly balanced. Good to see that anyone of sound mind can see that articles like that are just pure trolling.

downthemiddle

deemark wrote: »

Did anyone see this article by Kevin Myers in that rag of a broadsheet paper today? My only response is :mad:

Kevin Myers is a pathetic excuse for a journalist. Earlier this year he wrote an article about me and the school I work in. The article was was factually incorrect with misquotes and showed no signs of any research. Our Kevin never lets the truth get in the way of a good rant.
If Kevin was in Blessington last Sunday he would have seen the principal and chairperson of the local school shovelling snow to enable the school this week.
Like Kevin I too live outside Blessington and over 80 cms ( we use the metric system nowadays Kevin ) in my garden. I work in Dublin and have managed to get to school every day even though the 2 kms I have to travel to the N81 is on an untreated side road.
Some day soon I hope to bump into Kevin in Dan Kenny's bakery where one of my past pupils works, a qualified teacher, as she can't get a teaching job. I hope the custard pies are in stock that day!

E.T.

I wouldn't waste good custard on him!

downthemiddle

I wonder how many farmers travelled into Blessington in their Micras and Clios. I don't know of any teachers who stayed at home with their 4x4's.

gaeilgebeo

downthemiddle wrote: »

I wonder how many farmers travelled into Blessington in their Micras and Clios. I don't know of any teachers who stayed at home with their 4x4's.

Good for you!

byhookorbycrook

I came home by my normal route today. It took me 45 mins to go less than ten miles. If any parent of ours lived on that road, they would be crazy to even attempt to let a child go to school. Likewise, if I lived there, I would not be in work either. It was a sheet of compacted ice, I skidded twice, once right across the road.

spurious

I had to ring the school and get one of my colleagues to come collect me this morning. Scarlet.