Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) **Mod warning in OP 22/01**

Clouron

Can I ask, for those teachers who have been asked to deliver live classes all day...which I don't agree with BTW...
What are you doing for childcare?

wirelessdude01

As I said to one of the teachers who is in the DEIS school. Some of those students are probably making a huge effort to actually get onto the class and maybe the bedroom is the only place with a little peace and quiet in their entire house/apartment/hotel room. Silly to be kicking students off of teams for that.

Marty1983

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

One is a DEIS band 1 school and the other is a standard secondary school.

Both teachers I know from the schools think it is ridiculous but members of the SLT drop in and out of their lessons to keep an eye on these things and they also kick students off the lessons for non-compliance.

Crazy Stuff

wirelessdude01

Marty1983 wrote: »

Crazy Stuff

I'm all for having 'standards' but this stuff is just notions.

HansKroenke

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

Its utterly depressing that we still have to argue about covid being worse than the flu.

More BS from posters in this forum. Can you provide evidence that covid is worse than the flu for younger people? I'll wait.

History Queen

I was thinking about it last night, I really hope the Deis considers partial reopening with a view to building towards full reopening. Reinstate the 40% cut, if it's not needed, it won't be spent, but schools that do need more can avail of it. Optics wise it'll also help schools.

Ventilation wise there must be something that can be done.

If special schools and SNAs need more in terms of PPE give it to them! They are operating in much more challenging situations than the rest of us in terms of covid.

I don't know what primary schools might need?

km79

HansKroenke wrote: »

More BS from posters in this forum. Can you provide evidence that covid is worse than the flu for younger people? I'll wait.

It’s a lot more transmissible and certainly worse than the flu for the elder siblings , parents , grandparents etc they will bring it home to
There is a separate thread for this tinfoil hat stuff surely ?

In terms of this thread . When can we expect news of whether we will all return on Feb 1st.? I seem to recall the reviews is NEXT weekend which seems about right in line with the usual timeline for communication

Leftwaffe

Clouron wrote: »

Can I ask, for those teachers who have been asked to deliver live classes all day...which I don't agree with BTW...
What are you doing for childcare?

We are expected to do live classes but I know some of our teachers just can’t. A woman I work with has a 1yo and 2yo at home whilst the husband is a frontline worker. Impossible but she’s doing what she can.

km79

History Queen wrote: »

I was thinking about it last night, I really hope the Deis considers partial reopening with a view to building towards full reopening. Reinstate the 40% cut, if it's not needed, it won't be spent, but schools that do need more can avail of it. Optics wise it'll also help schools.

Ventilation wise there must be something that can be done.

If special schools and SNAs need more in terms of PPE give it to them! They are operating in much more challenging situations than the rest of us in terms of covid.

I don't know what primary schools might need?

There is no solution to the ventilation without considerable investment from the DES. This won’t happen . There isn’t enough time to install all the necessary systems now anyways . Maybe a lesson for the future though ...............
Open doors and windows . Wear warm clothes . Let the schools pay more on their heating bills while it literally goes out the windows . That’s their “plan”

HansKroenke

km79 wrote: »

It’s a lot more transmissible and certainly worse than the flu for the elder siblings , parents , grandparents etc they will bring it home to
There is a separate thread for this tinfoil hat stuff surely ?

In terms of this thread . When can we expect news of whether we will all return on Feb 1st.? I seem to recall the reviews is NEXT weekend which seems about right in line with the usual timeline for communication

For younger people, it is not more harmful than the flu. For older people it is. This hyperbole and scaremongering about covid being worse than the flu has no place in a sensible discussion. That is where I take issue with posters.

History Queen

HansKroenke wrote: »

For younger people, it is not more harmful than the flu. For older people it is. This hyperbole and scaremongering about covid being worse than the flu has no place in a sensible discussion. That is where I take issue with posters.

Where do you get your expertise from?

DraftDodger

CruelSummer wrote: »

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-family-of-teacher-who-died-with-coronavirus-say-school-staff-must-be-priority-for-vaccination-12195441

Fit and healthy teacher who loved climbing mountains died two days before Christmas in the U.K.

Absolutely tragic and a sign of just how dangerous this virus remains

km79

HansKroenke wrote: »

For younger people, it is not more harmful than the flu. For older people it is. This hyperbole and scaremongering about covid being worse than the flu has no place in a sensible discussion. That is where I take issue with posters.

I am mid 40s and work in a school . Where would I fit into this ?
My wife is a little bit older again. She lives with me .
Many of my colleagues are older than me again.

School communities are made up of more than students. And as I said in previous post the students go home to their own families .

I am still not sure what point you are trying to make on a discussion about whether it is safe for schools (that means students AND staff) to return ?
Those younger children do not exist in a vacuum. If they get Covid it does not affect just themselves .

Why are they not allowed visit nursing homes etc? Sure it doesn’t affect young children as badly ?

jimmytwotimes 2013

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

As I said to one of the teachers who is in the DEIS school. Some of those students are probably making a huge effort to actually get onto the class and maybe the bedroom is the only place with a little peace and quiet in their entire house/apartment/hotel room. Silly to be kicking students off of teams for that.

The entitlement of whoever made that decision. Plenty people living in over-priced 3-bed semis, might be only place they can go for these lessons.

Some neck from whoever is applying that as a rule.

jimmytwotimes 2013

HansKroenke wrote: »

More BS from posters in this forum. Can you provide evidence that covid is worse than the flu for younger people? I'll wait.

Younger people don't teach themselves or drive their own buses to school so its a mute point tbh

mirrorwall14

Honestly my study desk was in my room as a teenager and we lived in a pretty big detached bungalow in the country. Both my parents were teachers so one would have been in the study and one in the kitchen. My room would have been the proper set up? I don’t get this.

Ours ask students to not be in PJ’s and where possible not on their bed (not good for posture etc) which is perfectly reasonable

khalessi

HansKroenke wrote: »

More BS from posters in this forum. Can you provide evidence that covid is worse than the flu for younger people? I'll wait.

I know this wont be suitable because it is Canadian but interesting all the same

https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1352800109201924097

So almost no flu for paediatrics in Canada I think it is 0,5 per 100,000


https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/influenza/seasonalinfluenza/surveillance/influenzasurveillancereports/20202021season/Influenza_Surveillance_Report_Week%202%202021_Final.pdf

week 2 2021
Page 3 there is a graph for the Irish flu per age very low in children if anyone can tell me how to grab an image

TheValeyard

Clouron wrote: »

Can I ask, for those teachers who have been asked to deliver live classes all day...which I don't agree with BTW...
What are you doing for childcare?

I've a four year old 'teachers assistant' with me. One year old is with her mother while working downstairs. It's a mess, but no choice. Doing the best I can. But reducing my timetable to essential classes only next week because of illness.

jimmytwotimes 2013

https://twitter.com/emma_okelly/status/1352912251255214081?s=19

Emma O'Kelly has been producing excellent work on education with a good while

khalessi

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/emma_okelly/status/1352912251255214081?s=19

Emma O'Kelly has been producing excellent work on education with a good while

Nice to see she highlighted a school in Limerick rather than the gold standard 50 pupil school in Dublin:rolleyes:

am_zarathustra

I'd be very concerned with principals being left to decide what opens and what doesn't. We've a good, united staff, good age mix and enough strong, permeant members witb very good relationships with the parents to make sure the right thing is done. I can see solo runs by some principals with newish schools, young staff, no union presence, no one to say no really. I've always said, 10 maths teachers ranked, there will be a bit of difference from the top to the bottom but nothing catastrophic......now start ranking 10 principals, approach will be wildly different. I've worked for at least 2 lunatics in my time, 2 excellent principals and most were in between. I'd have worries for any teacher or student in the latter catagory in that school.

I'm not sure it's always that schools want autonomy either, they just want guidelines that aren't obviously stupid or uminforcable. The JCT etc are fine example of this, people with ambition but no real interest in educational research. Tick a box to say your progressive but don't spend the actual time familiarising yourself with what works from a neuropsychological, sociological etc perspective. Hattie isn't the only educational researcher (well meta-analysis maker) out there but if your listening to the DOE you'd think he was.

The live classes all day seems mad to me, I'm in DEIS urban. Seniors maybe 3 hours a day contact, then videos and work assigned for other classes. I was going through one of the more complicated parts of the course for LCHL maths on Friday, an hour and ten into working the same question with explainations and time for thinking and I was nearly loosing my mind!! In fairness, the kids were great and interacting brilliantly but they must have been exhausted. Anyone putting kids online 6 hour sa day is doing it for optics, or to punish their staff

Murple

km79 wrote: »

There is no solution to the ventilation without considerable investment from the DES. This won’t happen . There isn’t enough time to install all the necessary systems now anyways . Maybe a lesson for the future though ...............
Open doors and windows . Wear warm clothes . Let the schools pay more on their heating bills while it literally goes out the windows . That’s their “plan”

A grant to schools to take account for increased heating would be a start. Heat needs to be turned on earlier and left on all day to in some way balance the need to open windows. Though the highly questionable department solution to this is open the windows fully before school starts (so room is cold from the start of the day), open windows while the class is out of the room (so room is cold when they come in from the yard) and open windows fully after school when the children have gone home.

khalessi

Murple wrote: »

A grant to schools to take account for increased heating would be a start. Heat needs to be turned on earlier and left on all day to in some way balance the need to open windows. Though the highly questionable department solution to this is open the windows fully before school starts (so room is cold from the start of the day), open windows while the class is out of the room (so room is cold when they come in from the yard) and open windows fully after school when the children have gone home.

Well this is the department that published guidelines saying it was droplet spray, when it was already been acknowledged to be airborne and they have not updated guidelines since.

downthemiddle

jimmytwotimes 2013 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/emma_okelly/status/1352912251255214081?s=19

Emma O'Kelly has been producing excellent work on education with a good while

Emma is extremely professional. It is the first time I've ever had the feeling that she doesn't like the Minister for Education.

Bananaleaf

Michael Martin just said on Brendan O'Connor that he expects to reach an agreement on the reopening of special schools in the coming weeks. Not days, weeks.

Schools will not be reopening soon

plastic glass

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Happened to glance at myself in the mirror today as I was heading out for a walk after I shut off the laptop for the evening. Dear God the black circles under my eyes are shocking. Any other teachers noticing the same?

This has to be a parody? Parents juggling full time jobs, childcare, home schooling, etc and you are complaining about bags under your eyes!

Welcome to the real world.

Maybe ask your almighty union to add eye cream to your list of demands

am_zarathustra

Murple wrote: »

A grant to schools to take account for increased heating would be a start. Heat needs to be turned on earlier and left on all day to in some way balance the need to open windows. Though the highly questionable department solution to this is open the windows fully before school starts (so room is cold from the start of the day), open windows while the class is out of the room (so room is cold when they come in from the yard) and open windows fully after school when the children have gone home.

The kids would be two hours in a class with no ventilation then. By any of the modelling we have currently this would lead to huge numbers of infections. Such a typical department response

https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html

This is an easy to access model, you can see so clearly the effect of ventilation. I showed this to the kids a few months ago when it came out and that was the end of anyone complaining about the cold. Ventilation is absolutely vital for any illness that's aerosolized.

If you think this out, many areas of the country now have a rate of 1/20 in all likelihood given the community rates and lack of tracing. We have at least 1 positive is every class currently that I know of, multiples in some. 6 hours, almost guaranteed that one student in class has it, then think lunch, walking home, public busea, community rates are just too high.

It became a running joke in the staff room, I'd walk in on the morning and everyone would put their coats on. I'd open every window. Same on buses, 4/5 times I'm the one getting on, sanitising my hands and opening all the windows......sometimes to complaint The importance of ventilation is still not well understood by the public.

I am absolutely sure no one in the department reads any science, either to do with the virus or educational attainment

Benimar

plastic glass wrote: »

This has to be a parody? Parents juggling full time jobs, childcare, home schooling, etc and you are complaining about bags under your eyes!

Welcome to the real world.

Maybe ask your almighty union to add eye cream to your list of demands

And not one single teacher falls into this category? Jesus, the hatred for teachers is real with some!

downthemiddle

plastic glass wrote: »

This has to be a parody? Parents juggling full time jobs, childcare, home schooling, etc and you are complaining about bags under your eyes!

Welcome to the real world.

Maybe ask your almighty union to add eye cream to your list of demands

I'm going to let you into a little secret, many teachers are parents.

plastic glass

Benimar wrote: »

And not one single teacher falls into this category? Jesus, the hatred for teachers is real with some!

What exactly is your point here?
Where did I say these parents were not teachers?

Get off your high horse. I pointed out that one teacher was looking for sympathy for bags under their eyes and you say I hate all teachers.