Coronavirus- All schools to close? [MOD NOTE POST 346

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Grim??? No person left unaffected?? Seriously??

Yes. You don’t agree? What I said was that if the SB Post was right (1.9m infected and about 20000 deaths) then everyone will know someone who will die.

And I also said that if we don’t have to close the schools then we will have gotten away with it.

HerrKuehn wrote: »

That is pretty much the situation all non teachers have to deal with when the school closes because of a storm, snow etc.

For a day or 2
And most of them would live in same area as the school so their places of work would often be closed too

I’ll summarise the thread now so it can be closed

Everything is fine. Nothing needs to be done . Don’t close any schools as it will not suit everyone.
Teachers get too many holidays .
Teachers are lazy.

I think that covers it .

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Opening in the summer won't happen. It's not part of teachers' contracts, it interferes with the marking of the LC and JC which is dependent on teachers working in July.

While Ireland is in the early stages of coronavirus I don't think it will lead to a complete shutdown. Italy is a bit nuts but that's because nothing was really done about the initial cases that arose and the virus spread. All of Ireland's cases are related to travel to Italy and those that have it have been in contact with those who have been in Italy. Without travel to Italy over midterm break this country would be coronavirus free, as would many European countries I imagine.

I know only too well that cases can increase exponentially, but people are hyper vigilant at this stage. We've had fair warning (despite the decisions of the HSE/Government). The numbers will increase but I don't think we're going to see thousands of cases.

Granted China being communist and all can put a halt to people's movement fairly easily, but they have had 80,000 cases in a population of 1.5 billion. And the numbers are dropping every day. Today they've only had about 50. We are aware of how it's transmitted, the symptoms and what we can do to reduce the risk. So while we are seeing and hearing a little daftness in people buying industrial quantities of toilet roll and hand sanitizer, people have been taking precautions.

Teachers are already being paid in July and August, make them work. In what other profession in Ireland do you get off at 3 or 4 every day and get the whole summer off with pay? In France the school teachers are obliged to spend 2 weeks correcting state papers, here we have to pay them extra over and above what they are already getting paid.

I hope we don’t have to close, I really do. And most teachers I know think the same. Because that means that Ireland has escaped this developing into a crisis.

Schools/teachers and parents need to be planning now. This will happen very quickly if it happens at all. All possible avenues should be researched immediately for students in secondary/upper primary. Younger children however would not be able to access online content without significant support from an adult. Even in third class, my students really struggle with this. Also, teachers have desktops not laptops in my school so many do not not have computers they can take home to work from - another issue needing a creative solution.

Another issue we would have is that a large number of my students do not have internet access at home (DEIS school). So do I teach/provide work for those that do in the knowledge that their classmates without internet will be making no progress at all? What happens when we all return to school and a large number have done none of the work assigned and have fallen majorly behind? These are issues that need to be discussed now not later.

Leaving cert students are the major priority here. The stress for them must be major. This could end up having a major impact on their futures if it isn’t managed correctly. Yes junior cert is important but it would be much easier to postpone if needs be.

olestoepoke wrote: »

Teachers are already being paid in July and August, make them work. In what other profession in Ireland do you get off at 3 or 4 every day and get the whole summer off with pay? In France the school teachers are obliged to spend 2 weeks correcting state papers, here we have to pay them extra over and above what they are already getting paid.

This post proves you know less than, if not nothing about teaching and pay.

TheValeyard wrote: »

This post proves you know less than, if not nothing.

Please elaborate. Tell me whats is wrong with what I said. Thank you:D

Lot of talk of them closing either the 2 weeks BEFORE Easter, then the 2 weeks of Easter, so 4 weeks in total.

Or the 2 weeks the other side of Easter, again 4 weeks.

Perhaps it would be a good idea at this early stage?

doc_17 wrote: »

Yes. You don’t agree? What I said was that if the SB Post was right (1.9m infected and about 20000 deaths) then everyone will know someone who will die.

And I also said that if we don’t have to close the schools then we will have gotten away with it.

No I don't agree. China's death toll and total cases has levelled off and Italy's is beginning to. China has a death toll of about 3000. Can't see why Ireland would be a huge statistical anomaly and have 20k deaths.

olestoepoke wrote:

Teachers are already being paid in July and August, make them work. In what other profession in Ireland do you get off at 3 or 4 every day and get the whole summer off with pay? In France the school teachers are obliged to spend 2 weeks correcting state papers, here we have to pay them extra over and above what they are already getting paid.

Primary teacher here with 8 weeks summer break. First week usually spent on a course. Final week usually spent on school premises planning and setting up my classroom and resources, of my own accord, not directed to do so by management. Intermittent days throughout the summer spent researching ideas, buying items etc, we rarely switch off from this job.

Weepsie wrote:

Then add in the arsehole parents, too, And most (of the good ones) are in schools from 8.30-4.30 anyway, just like your regular 9-5. There are plenty who take the piss, as anywhere, but they are generally the exception.

Don't forget the hours worked in the evenings and weekends on paperwork. Impossible to get done when students are present. I arrive an hour early and leave 30 mins after the children leave but I get very little done in this 90 minutes per day, so I have to commit my own time to work at home, as I'm certain most teachers do. I'm posting at this hour of the day as I have a certified day off to attend medical appointments, but I'm still spending time today catching up on paperwork and planning.

Nobody said schools won't close. The message is there not closing at the moment. It's an evolving situation. Listening to Pat Kenny this morning and Luke O'Neill it has to happen. We haven't had our oh **** moment yet and the Government seems to want to wait until that happens. It's not a good strategy as we're not testing for it in the community and the contact tracing seems to be an absolute disaster.