mcsean2163 wrote: » Interesting link and note the following... <I>Children in fifth grade and older will no longer be able to attend school or camp in person.</i> Schools stayed open unlike Ireland.
youandme13 wrote: » And yet they just opened the creches without a second thought for the workers.. we're told we dont need ppe gear and yet we have afterschool children in our care now full time.
FishOnABike wrote: » I think the school based clusters in Israel¹ ² and Melbourne³ have pretty much blown out of the water any notion that children/schools don't really spread the virus. ¹ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-battles-new-wave-coronavirus-infections-after-reopening-n1233139 "According to Gabi Barbash, a former director general of the Health Ministry and professor of epidemiology at the Weizmann Institute, the main trigger for the new wave lies in the government’s decision to open schools, event halls and pubs, with infections surging among young people” ² https://www.ijn.com/israel-thought-it-had-crushed-covid-19-now-lockdowns-reimposed/ " The virus quickly spread through the education system, with tens of thousands of students forced into quarantine and outbreaks in some high schools.” ³ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-09/al-taqwa-college-coronavirus-covid19-cluster-melbourne-truganina/12437584 Crossing our fingers and naïvely hoping schools can operate as if nothing has happened come the end of August / start of September is not going to cut it. Comprehensive preventative measures will need to be put in place including contingency plans to deal with suspected and/or confirmed cases within a school or within staff/student contacts.
...Ghost... wrote: » Then you have little regard to the health and safety of others. A fit and able person with a covid infection will spread it as easily as the next person. Employers have a duty to ensure that their employees are safe and have as appropriate equipment and PPE to carry out their duties. They must provide a safe place of work. This falls under health and safety law and the employer is the entity responsible for this, but employees must co-operate with the safety measures. I'm sure I don't have to argue that it is not safe for teachers to return to the classroom without proper PPE. I also don't think it is a good attitude to say that children won't die from the virus. They will spread it to vulnerable people who will die from the virus. It's more dangerous in a classroom of 30 kids for several hours per day than it is to be on a bus for a half hour....yet we are bringing in mandatory face masks and big fines for public transport from tomorrow.
morebabies wrote: » On top of this lack of clarity, we got our bill for two secondary students annual bus tickets a few days ago, €650. In normal times, we wouldn't query it, but now we're holding back because we know so little about how the next academic year is going to look. Obviously buses can't manage social distancing, and neither can bus companies offer twice as many buses and drivers with the same income for school transport. Obligatory masks on buses is all that can be done I suppose.
jrosen wrote: » I think any employee who is fit and able to return to work but chooses not too should have to take unpaid leave, unpaid parental leave. Its not about inconvenience. Its about children missing out on their education. Its about expecting parents who are working to somehow find the time in their already 8 hour day to follow a curriculum and teach their own kids. Its not sustainable long term nor is it realistic.
jrosen wrote: » I think schools have to go back in September with a full schedule, allow the teachers to use PPE. Soap/hand sanitizer available all the time. Any school that requires an upgrade to bathrooms/sinks needs to happen before September. Close all communal areas. Classes basically stay in their home room all day. If any teacher is considered high risk they should be able to stay home with full pay, any other teacher who isn't comfortable can take unpaid leave. But the schools have to be supported in keeping sick staff/students home and if there is a case or a suspected case the school closes.
Scoondal wrote: » My children will not be going back to school until covid19 is finished.
...Ghost... wrote: » What about the teachers who have high risk family members? Elderly parents they help take of. Spouses with pre-existing conditions. Even children with a strong case of asthma. Should they be forced to take unpaid leave, or to put their loved ones lives at risk? The schools not opening in September will be a massive inconvenience for me and my family. My OH would have to work from home and take up the family PC for most of the day. I would be unable to work, or study from home because the PC I work from would be in use and I would be looking after the kids who are not in school. I’d rather that than sending my kids to several different schools where they might pick up the virus after spending hours in an enclosed space with about 30 other people. If we drop the ball on schools for our own convenience, it could be very costly.
Newbie20 wrote: » Online teaching is far from ideal but the Department need to at least have a plan in place for this possibility.
mcsean2163 wrote: » Bananaleaf, my wife is a healthcare worker who was treating COVID19 patients. Her mother has an autoimmune condition, my mother is over 80. We all supported her in her work. I essentially quit my job as childcare disappeared and grandparents couldn't help us. She never considered walking out on her job despite the risk to herself, me, our children and extended family nor would we have expected her to do so. People are always at risk of death through a variety of illnesses that circulate such as influenza etc. but generally we accept the risks and move forward. I think it is hard to contemplate returning to such a risky world the longer one is essentially sheltering but realistically, if we don't work, Ireland could be in real danger. In your case you may be one of the people that decide to work from home but in most cases if people are under 40 and not co-habiting with at risk people, I would expect that they could return to work. Don't know what anyone else thinks but surely above is reasonable? P.S. I said, "The risk of death is miniscule to people under 40." Isn't that much the same as your version "the virus isnt fatal to anyone other than those in the older age brackets. " Again those figures for anyone that missed it: In Italy 86 people under 40 diedhttps://www.statista.com/statistics/1105061/coronavirus-deaths-by-region-in-italy/ There were 33,700 deaths in Italy. 86 deaths were under the age of 40. That means 33,614 were over the age of 40.
morebabies wrote: » I watched a lot of the Oireachtas Committee meeting yesterday about the reopening of schools, and they just kept saying "we are aiming for a full return to school in September". It's as though they have no contingency plans, that was my reading of it. Someone asked if it would be possible to provide a virtual or "recorded" curriculum, accessible to all students, in case of further disruption, and the idea was shot down immediately. They said firstly, schools move through the curriculum at a different pace, and secondly, there was no comparison between teaching in a classroom setting and online resources. It was really frustrating to be honest because surely it's obvious we need a plan in place in case there is a spike in cases this autumn / winter.
khalessi wrote: » Too much academic or not enough?Too easy or too hard?
Bananaleaf wrote: » The virus doesn't just target the older age brackets. The virus targets us all. I think what you meant to say is that the virus isnt fatal to anyone other than those in the older age brackets. Children can still host the virus. If they can host it, they can spread it. My father is a vulnerable member of society. If he catches Covid-19 he will die. If case numbers start rising, I wouldnt be happy for schools to reopen. Not because I am a teacher and I want more holidays, but because I don't want my father to die. Before it gets mentioned again, I know that the pubs, cafes, hair dressers etc have opened. Well, if case numbers start rising, I would want them closed again too. There are articles beginning to appear that speak of additional health complications in people who had contracted Covid and recovered from it, so I wouldn't be so sure just yet that it is only the elderly that need to watch their backs with this one
jrosen wrote: » If any teacher is considered high risk they should be able to stay home with full pay, any other teacher who isn't comfortable can take unpaid leave. But the schools have to be supported in keeping sick staff/students home and if there is a case or a suspected case the school closes.
Drumpot wrote: » Yeh, I would be very worried thatthey are going to wing this. Basically hope one of two things. That either actual scientific evidence proves beyond doubt that children/schools don’t really spread the virus or that we don’t get any significant surges that require schools to close. Is there some sort of informed task force looking into this or are we relying on people who don’t really know what they are talking about to figure this all out?
