Government flip flops / school closures

Leftwaffe

km79 wrote: »

Not a bit of contact from the asti yet
Shocking

To be expected. In my experience they are a poor union. Hopefully they prove me wrong.

km79

If I was a betting man I would say all year groups will be online next week
Schools will then be given a week to put a plan in place for leaving certs the following week

Treppen

Redordeadqwwer wrote: »

To be expected. In my experience they are a poor union. Hopefully they prove me wrong.

I've seen more action from the ASTI in the last 15 years than the TUI and INTO combined. The department are about to shoot themselves in the foot so I for one ain't gonna to jump in front of the bullet.

amacca

Treppen wrote: »

I've seen more action from the ASTI in the last 15 years than the TUI and INTO combined. The department are about to shoot themselves in the foot so I for one ain't gonna to jump in front of the bullet.

I'd be of that opinion too....

greenbicycle

A real concern is the potential remaining threat of predicted grades. LCs will keep this in mind and then will want to show their best side at all costs. With this in mind they will turn up for school regardless of health in order to achieve as not turning up jeopardises a teachers opinion of them, in their minds. Disaster. Not to mind the lack of testing so asymptomatic students turn up unknowingly infecting others.

And what happens if teachers are out, who covers s and s?

petejmk

km79 wrote: »

Not a bit of contact from the asti yet
Shocking

Had email from rep earlier. Standing committee meeting at 4.30pm.

am_zarathustra

Predicted grades would be a disaster, we have so little data compared to last year's cohort, imagine taking over a leaving cert class, in the middle of a pandemic, having a few months of very strange teaching with kids in and out due to tracing or actual cases, and then being asked to give them a grade. Last year we were working off 90% of their school time done and a decent indication of the direction they were heading and it was far from ideal.......that's before you consider the teachers who were honest last time sure as hell won't want to be burned again

babybuilder

Reading some of the posts here I gather that there is very little fire in the belly from some teachers and that they are prepared to hunker down and troop into school chastened Monday morning to await their fate. Depressing really.

ClydeTallyBump

If the coursework was given a higher percentage and more choice on the exam paper, I can't see why the exams can't go ahead.

I teach LC exam RE and all they did was add an extra question to each unit which still means I have to teach all the units. What would be better would be choice between units for example.

There is no need for LCs to be in the school building.

I received 3 emails by the way from ASTI acknowledging receipt of my emails. None of my local TDs have replied yet. They were very quick to reply to me about the greyhound situation a few months ago, not so quick right now.

There should be a full closure.

Pursefan

JMB held Zoom meeting this morning. They are on board with LC return. Advised to hold off with staff meetings until Friday and then run LC classes Wed, Thursday and Friday.
Asti meeting NEHPT today and decision due tomorrow after SC meeting.
We need to stand up now and refuse to go into such a dangerous situation. Lives can be lost here so easily.

lulublue22

Treppen wrote: »

I'd bet my life on only a hand full of 6th years will be in next week.

Special schools need looking at though. If you recall the last lockdown the DES were getting it in the neck for not considering special schools. Now when they declare them open it's the same level of ire.

I don’t currently work in special ed but I did for a number of years. Based on my experience I actually feel that special ed colleagues are being thrown under a bus for political kudos. My main concerns would be

1. transmission rates in this sector higher than any other educational setting.

2. vast majority of children travel to school on school transport which is organised across the whole school community with no masks and no SD

3. depending on context and locality some school transport is organised across a number of special schools.

4. lack of awareness of and ability to maintain SD

5. smaller classes but higher staff ratio

6. higher levels of children with medical needs

7. higher levels of care needs including intimate care

8. by far higher levels of challenging behaviors including but not limited to hitting, biting, kicking, spitting, throwing things etc. Out of those spitting and biting and screaming ( lower frustration levels) would be of concern.

Special ed is a very rewarding but challenging context to work in. Out of all the educational settings special ed is the setting that I would be must concerned about spread.

Smacruairi

Jmb of course toe the line, but I hear major disquiet at that meeting. Asti possibly to say no staff meetings during holidays, ie don't meet until Monday.

Jmb fudged it however when asked what happens if students don't come in to the physical class. Work of class to be sent to them, not the actual instruction, ie don't simultaneously teach.

The lack of backbone in the principals is hilarious. I remember doing ethics as part of my leadership course, and how not to blindly follow DES commands. Sounds like most principals haven't.

Rosita

Pursefan wrote: »

JMB held Zoom meeting this morning. They are on board with LC return. Advised to hold off with staff meetings until Friday and then run LC classes Wed, Thursday and Friday.
Asti meeting NEHPT today and decision due tomorrow after SC meeting.
We need to stand up now and refuse to go into such a dangerous situation. Lives can be lost here so easily.

Sorry, what the SC meeting? Probably obvious.

mirrorwall14

Rosita wrote: »

Sorry, what the SC meeting? Probably obvious.

Standing committee

ClydeTallyBump

Rosita wrote: »

Sorry, what the SC meeting? Probably obvious.

Standing Committee of the ASTI.

Random sample

I’ve had a wishy washy standard reply from my local FG td.

I don’t think we should wait and see what happens here. I don’t expect students to be in, so I don’t want to travel to school for no reason. Parents and students can vote with their feet, we need to work ahead of time.

As for students coming in to impress... that has not been my experience so far. Any time I’ve had a class test a number of students have been absent, done it online and done much better than they do in tests where they have been present, so I wouldn’t expect attendance to be good Monday.

alroley

Interestingly I had a response from a local TD in one of the government parties saying that they will request that Norma Foley reconsider the decision to bring leaving cert students and staff in due to the risk to public health.

linguist

Truly shocked by what I'm hearing about the JMB. Can they not read the room - at all?

Pursefan

I am at a Zoom staff meeting now, so will report back.

Curlysue76

km79 wrote: »

If I was a betting man I would say all year groups will be online next week
Schools will then be given a week to put a plan in place for leaving certs the following week

Just received a text from my daughters school, it’ll be online for Mon and Tues. ‘Further updates will follow’ and ‘we are in a fluid and changeable situation’.

milosh

Smacruairi wrote: »

Jmb of course toe the line, but I hear major disquiet at that meeting. Asti possibly to say no staff meetings during holidays, ie don't meet until Monday.

Jmb fudged it however when asked what happens if students don't come in to the physical class. Work of class to be sent to them, not the actual instruction, ie don't simultaneously teach.

The lack of backbone in the principals is hilarious. I remember doing ethics as part of my leadership course, and how not to blindly follow DES commands. Sounds like most principals haven't.

Our principal decided after the JMB meeting this morning to ask our board of managment to close the school to all students from Monday as he was not satisfied with the answers given. Not too sure what the implications of this are.

KrustyBurger

milosh wrote: »

Our principal decided after the JMB meeting this morning to ask our board of managment to close the school to all students from Monday as he was not satisfied with the answers given. Not too sure what the implications of this are.

Fair play to them. Someone with backbone.

I emailed my local TDs, got a standard reply from one, nothing yet from the rest. It'll be interesting to see how ASTI get on with NPHET.

ClydeTallyBump

Richard Chambers is reporting on Twitter that the PDA- Principals and Deputy Principals' Association have asked for the LC return plan to be scrapped.

I have to admit I have never heard of them before.

linguist

ClydeTallyBump wrote: »

Richard Chambers is reporting on Twitter that the PDA- Principals and Deputy Principals' Association have asked for the LC return plan to be scrapped.

I have to admit I have never heard of them before.

Must be the NAPD.

alroley

ClydeTallyBump wrote: »

Richard Chambers is reporting on Twitter that the PDA- Principals and Deputy Principals' Association have asked for the LC return plan to be scrapped.

I have to admit I have never heard of them before.

I think they are part of the TUI?

History Queen

KrustyBurger wrote: »

Fair play to them. Someone with backbone.

I emailed my local TDs, got a standard reply from one, nothing yet from the rest. It'll be interesting to see how ASTI get on with NPHET.

I got a reply from a TD too. He seemed to have read my email. He acknowledged that monday was not a realistic opening date and that he would be relaying concerns to the Minister for Education and Senior Personnel in the Dept. Sending the emails didn't do any harm anyway

andrewflintoff

On the off chance that the danger of COVID-19 in our schools was not kidding enough for the public authority to think about closures, clearly it's not kidding enough to cover class sizes to make understudies and staff more secure.

Smacruairi

milosh wrote: »

Our principal decided after the JMB meeting this morning to ask our board of managment to close the school to all students from Monday as he was not satisfied with the answers given. Not too sure what the implications of this are.

Yeah heard similar. Our boss is always a wait to see person. Only in the position a few years so doesn't want to go with their own gut, despite the full backing of the board.

One only hopes no one jumps too soon, its unravelling, just needs a little nudge, not a huge push.

History Queen

Smacruairi wrote: »

Yeah heard similar. Our boss is always a wait to see person. Only in the position a few years so doesn't want to go with their own gut, despite the full backing of the board.

One only hopes no one jumps too soon, its unravelling, just needs a little nudge, not a huge push.

Our ETB are along these lines. No students in til Wednesday, hoping that things will be sorted by then. Not in breech of anything, but at the same time not opening the doors on Monday.

Leftwaffe

Got a reply back from my local TD too. It was long winded and generic. Probably in the hope I’d just stop reading it.