Boggles wrote: » Jaysus there must be 36 hours in your day, as you have volunteered to the thread on numerous you are so busy coping with work, tending to cocoons, etc How do you supervise your kids all day every day when they are outside? You also manage to fit in several hours whinging about everyone else online too. Super woman. :pac: No where in the restrictions does it say parents can throw their children out the front and let them have a free for all. Which is what happening isn't it?
Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: » What other people do is really none of my business and its none of anyone else's business for that matter.
trapp wrote: » If you believe the part highlighted well then we agree. 100% correct to close schools in March. But also, if safe, 100% necessary to reopen in September for as many children as possible. 6 months out of school is a long time. Online learning is not real learning despite the great effort many teachers put into it. What protective measures would you suggest? Children will not be coming to school when sick and parents will have to be trusted on this. Staggered lunch times, class groups not to mix, possibly reduced numbers in each class each day. I'm not sure what else can be done. No risk is not possible.
trapp wrote: » Whether it does or doesn't is not relevant. The fact of the matter is that they are. And quelle surprise my poor friend, cases of the virus are not flying out of control.
Boggles wrote: » Really, during a once in a generation pandemic? It's every body's business, it's kind of the point. What you do, or I do or what someone else does can directly impact on the health and well being of others. Again it's a highly transmissible infections disease that primarily hosts in humans. I'm actually surprised at this stage that I have to explain that to someone.
FeirmeoirtTed wrote: » I agree no risk is not possible but measures have to be taken and they will cost money. I would redeploy learning support and resource teachers to mainstream classes and reduce class numbers in every class to as low as possible. I would use pe halls and any other free areas in schools to set up temporary classrooms for these teachers to teach mainstream classes but that would cost money for interactive whiteboards etc We could have the hand wash facilities like in Denmark where classes line up and wash their hands at regular intervals to reduce the risk of spread again that would cost money. Classes might have to be split at the start to one week on and off but that doesn't solve the huge issue of working parents and childcare. Temperature checks using thermal scanners like in other countries might be introduced. And individual tests done regularly but I'm not sure how effective these are they might just be some elaborate pr stunt to make us feel like we are doing something. I've no idea what the DOE is planning but they would need to let schools know so we can plan for September as quickly as possible and fund whatever needs to be done. and if the virus has disappeared by then any investment made in facilities will be a welcome improvement on what in schools have.
trapp wrote: » What about children who need learning support or resource teaching? How is PE taught if the hall is a classroom? Not suggesting you are wrong just thinking of questions that could be asked. My biggest issue with the return of schools is the willingness of some to go overboard on the potential risks. The irish independent has a graph today showing the breakdown of age of deaths. The vast majority of deaths have been in the over 85 age group and the next highest in the 75 - 85 age group. Very few under 65s have died and the amount of deaths among under 18s is maybe 1 or two. The fact is more children die in farm accidents, water accidents, car accidents etc than die from Covid. A sense of perspective rather than fearmongering about children's safety wouldn't go astray.
FeirmeoirtTed wrote: » I'm not for one second suggesting my ideas are the right approach they raise many issues but if we are trying to reduce risk and make schools safer places given the virus is still with us then learning support and resource can help reduce children in classes at the same time, small classes might go some way to allowing the teacher devote more time to the LS needs in the class and implement some of the new guidelines like on handwashing.ideally youd hire extra teachers but I'd be very doubtful that will happen so it has to be practical. Pe halls might be the only free space to put these classes and then some schools won't even have pe halls to accommodate extra classes. In those schools PE is done on dry days outside in all seasons. The issue is more than just that children will die directly it's the issue of spread from child to child to parent to the wider community, there are risks of individual children testing positive and schools or classes having to close on an individual basis. I'm not trying to blow them out of proportion but what's happening in European schools is not " let's get schools open in september as normal and hope for the best". Plans have been put in place and pointing out than at this very moment in time that we have no concrete plan and we need to have one does not mean that I or any other teacher am being negative or fear mongering, as I said already there was a reason the schools closed in the first place.
Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: » I don't begrudge anyone who's getting on with things after what we've all been through.
Boggles wrote: » Sorry what have you been through? Stay at home, watch Netflix, drink wine, go out when you want, go to the shops when you want, endlessly lounge on the internet etc, etc? You poor thing. Must have been rough. The reality is we haven't been through anything yet, it's the start of the pandemic, not the end, it's about time the 50% Doctor Tony was talking about get their head around that fact.
History Queen wrote: » This sums up the ineptitude of the Department of Education. In an article where Joe McHugh admits that there will be additional costs in schools for tackling Covid (24m per term hand sanitizer bill) there is also an admission that there has been no extra funding sanctioned to the Dept of Education. "While additional funding has been approved for three other departments, no decision has been taken to amend the Department of Education budget. “Therefore, all expenditure pressures arising are to be met within the existing budgetary allocations,” a spokesman said."https://amp.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/no-extra-funds-for-irish-schools-to-tackle-covid-19-fallout-1002571.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
vid36 wrote: » Ireland has had a relatively small outbreak in the greater scheme of things.In Catalonia over 11,000 people have died. Thousands of people under 65 have died of Covid19 in the USA.Teachers have died of the disease in Sweden and the USA.Transport workers in London. Medical staff have died of it everywhere.Many people under 65 have also died from it in the UK, even the prime minister had to spend a week in ICU. To say that there is no risk to anybody under 65 is misleading and dangerous.As people get older, their risk increases and many Irish teachers with underlying conditions are surely at the same risk as Boris Johnson. It makes sense to try to open schools are normal in September, we actually probably should have done so in early August . However, it would also be right to have a contingency plan in the event of second wave during our peak flu season in winter.Online lessons should be readied, blending learning improved and if schools have to close for a period, that time should be made up for next summer and school holidays adjusted accordingly.
trapp wrote: » Agree with much of that. I do wonder if waiting until September will allow schools to return 'close' to normal though? September is still 3 months away. By then if the current progress is maintained we should be in phase 5 and the risk of getting the virus should be very low. If we are in phase 5 the children will be playing sports and mixing outside school anyway.
FeirmeoirtTed wrote: » Look I've a tiny bit of sympathy for the DOE it's a global pandemic nobody knows what the country will look like in 3 months it's a crystal ball they'd need to put in place a plan but they surely could have plan a b and c and they could surely tell the schools what those might be so we can prepare in some way for them. They could even give us a date we should be back and stick to it. You are right if in phase 5 kids will be back playing together why should schools not open as normal? I hope they are but as I said the risk is increased if you have 100s of kids in one building together. It's very hard to know what to believe at this stage there is talk from the experts of a spike later in the year so surely preparing the school environment for that by investing in facilities might go some way to reducing the impact that spike if it comes might have and keep the schools from having to close for a second time.
wirelessdude01 wrote: » Better stick a lagging jacket on the book list for every child as there won't be any heat allowed to be switched on in any school this winter. We've cut our voluntary contribution for the coming year as a gesture of good will but might live to regret that if we have to try and finance this ourselves.
beggars_bush wrote: » A lot of schools don't ask for a contribution
Benimar wrote: » Without having a pop at anyone, I’d suggest people actually read what’s in Phase 5. Some people seem to think that August 10th is ‘back to normal’ day, but the roadmap reads far different. For example, it mentions: phased return to onsite working, large gatherings still banned, opening shopping centres where SD can be maintained, open theatres and cinemas where SD can be maintained etc. This idea that everything but schools will be ‘back to normal’ just isn’t true.
jester77 wrote: » The whole back to school thing is ridiculous. My son is back to school here, and it's laughable. He goes 2 days a week, Mon and Thurs. The class has been split into groups of 10, and it sucks for him and he's miserable. All his buddies are in other groups. They sit at their own table and eat at their table. When it's break time, 5 stay inside, the other 5 play in their class yard and they are supposed to practice social distancing. Each class has their own dedicated yard area that is cordoned off from other classes, was always like this before corana. They have their own dedicated toilet now for the class, his class are using one of the girls toilets. Parents are not allowed on school property without a mask, and they are not allowed in any buildings at all. The kids then leave schools and all go to the playgrounds, which are now open again, and play with each other there. It's mid 20's here right now, kids are all outside playing together, there was a few of them in the pool in my back garden earlier. Everything outside the school is back to normal. So, these school restrictions are just pointless.
SusanC10 wrote: » Which Country do you live in Jester ?
Benimar wrote: » Without having a pop at anyone, I’d suggest people actually read what’s in Phase 5.Some people seem to think that August 10th is ‘back to normal’ day, but the roadmap reads far different. For example, it mentions: phased return to onsite working, large gatherings still banned, opening shopping centres where SD can be maintained, open theatres and cinemas where SD can be maintained etc. This idea that everything but schools will be ‘back to normal’ just isn’t true.
trapp wrote: » Nobody is suggesting'back to normal' But go for a walk my poor man and look around. There are groups of children playing together everywhere. The idea of panicking if they end up less than two metres away in a classroom is hyperbole
Zahir Bitter Cellist wrote: » How dramatic, I tell you what why don't we just close schools permanently because they are so unsafe, such a huge risk and too cold/too hot, windows don't open, no water, no soap, no toilet roll etc etc ad infinitum Why don't the government just get on with it and condemn every single school building right now?
trapp wrote: » Anybody, anybody at all who doesn't accept that these few months have been awful had no life before the covid crisis. .
Boggles wrote: » Awful is a relative term. It has been awful for people who lost there lives doing there job or for 31% of infections in health workers. It's been awful for people who lost family and couldn't say goodbye properly, it's been a lot more awful for people who bore the brunt. It's been an annoying inconvenience for the vast majority and it will continue to be for some time to come yet. The trick is not to let it turn into a massive social and economic disaster which would truly be devastating. But yeah, it's been awful for people who can't stand their kids and will blame everyone from teachers to Tony for that fact, i point you this thread for evidence of such.
