How will schools be able to go back in September? (Continued)

lulublue22 wrote: »

Nobody said it was the wrong thing to do - rather if you are that concerned about how your local school can implement the return to school plan then contacting the school in question is a better option than hand wringing on an internet forum about how the school hasn’t contacted you. As adults I presume parents who are concerned have the where with all to be proactive. :rolleyes:




There’s a fair amount of selective reading going on on this thread at this stage.

The parent can be as proactive as they like but there is no way on this earth any school is going to release to individual parents The Plan with the specifics so that those parents can then release it to the community. Just not going to happen. All you will get back from the school is a very generic we're all working hard etc response. The Plan is going to be released by the school when they're good and ready. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wasting their time and the school's time.

Deleted User wrote: »

It's estimated Spanish Flu killed between 1% and 2.7% of the global population. Best estimates from reputable studies for covid are about 0.6% of those infected, and this will drop as treatments improve. Plus 100% of the population wont get this

Well you are judging a virus that is only getting started versus a flu that happened in the early 20th century and had 3 waves second being the worst, lets look back on this in a few years see where we stand. But as of now they are comparable according to studies.

Stateofyou wrote: »

Words are there in black and white however. Fact remains you told parents to be an adult and get off their backsides, and have the "wherewithal" to get some information yet when told parents have done this, suddenly the schools shouldn't be bothered and it's not their fault and "well then" I got my answer. Which wasn't actually a clarification at all for the further details you told us to seek. Very nonsensical.

I’m genuinely confused- you got an answer - maybe not the answer you wanted but an answer - we are working on this and will let you know by the end of the week.

ETA - I don’t know your school. You do. When I hear an answer like that it leads me to believe that they trying to find work arounds to implement dep guidelines. Maybe they are a shower of wasters doing nothing but in my experience it’s the former. Honestly that to me is an answer.

lulublue22 wrote: »

You seem to be a numbers guy . I don’t know why there is a difference between your numbers ( might possibly be due to the reliability of the data ) However in my experience and those that I know numbers throughout the school would be in and around the same. 29/ 30 / 31 I expect if you asked the teachers on here it would be a similar story. Obviously that may not apply to the entire country - it is similar to classes of 40 - have never cone across it. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Re extensions I can only comment on my own school which I did - it would make no difference to us.

Re vocalising - first port of call is your principal yes and or your TD. While specific information is scant at the moment -Class size is an issue , non wearing of masks is an issue , bus transport is an issue.

I agree with you re making a decision about the lesser of two evils and used the phrase not concerned more in relation to parents weighing up the options and deciding what is/ was the best option tor them as opposed to not concerned in terms of not being bothered. It may not have read that way.

I am someone that likes to talk about facts rather than opinions on something as serious as this, rather than anonymous comments on a social media forum. I think we need to move away from anecdotal 'evidence' towards clear facts. The numbers from the DES should be complete and accurate and are published for the reason.

There are lots of differences between schools, and therefore (rather selfishly) I am interesting in what applies to our school only. The numbers I have come directly from the DES and list every school in the country and the number of students in each class. It is listed as 2019-20 FINAL - so I assume it is what has been sent back from the schools themselves. The detail is sourced here
https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individual-Schools

It shows 17.8% of students are in class sizes of 30 or greater, 43% are in class sizes between 25 and 29, 26.6% in classes between 20 and 24 and 12.6% in class sizes below 20. It does provide the individual class size for every class in every school in the country.



Re scant details and complaining about them - I think this is a rather futile exercise. Complaints needs to be based on facts and have supporting evidence around it. Other than that the complaint is simply a rant, and gets thrown in the bin. As an urban school - transport is not a concern for us as an example.

At the moment, schools are no doubt working on this issue at a level of detail, parents are not aware of this detail yet. Its naive to the extreme to assume that the majority of parents are going to complain to public representatives when being kept in the dark by the school. Maybe when the details are made available, parents may be less comfortable at this point and start taking action.

Some parents will not be bothered and some are evaluating the options in detail. However, most parents will continue to do the best for their children, even if it makes picking the the worst of two evils. The pandemic situation forces us all to make choices we all would prefer not to make, and this is no different to that.

Deleted User wrote: »

The **** was hitting the fan in March and April. Now there is a bit of a whiff, and you might want to watch your step, but is nothing like march and april.
Teach a 5 year old online?
Parents who can to remain working from home while trying to ensure kids go online for their classes?
Parents who cant work from home....

That is why we needed a different approach regarding primary/secondary.
It makes sense to try to keep primary operating as long as possible.Secondary should be blended from the outset given our current r value and the level of infections.

Stateofyou wrote: »

Ok I can't make this any clearer for you. You said adults should have the wherewithal to inform ourselves and seek info and clarification. I told you I had done this but got no further than I already was. Your response was to say "well then" I got my answer. However I did not get any further information or clarification on "the issue" as you put it. JFC, this is getting tedious. Maybe don't speak so condesendingly towards people about getting answers that you seem to know well enough that they aren't prepared to give.

JFC right back at you. Again tone is subjective if you want to take my post as snotty and or condescending that is your prerogative. You are entitled to agree / disagree with my opinions. Or think them as irritating annoying or as nonsensical as you want. At the end of the day if I am concerned about issues affecting my children’s education then I look to their school for answers. If I ‘m mot happy I ask again until I am.

Stateofyou wrote: »

Can anyone here speak to what it would take to develop quality, standardised online classes? Does the DE need to hire educational professionals to develop the content? Is the content available more or less and just needs to be built by web designers now? How long might this take? US/Mexico seemed to get it up and running in a few months.

There is also an online system ready to go in England if needed.

Stateofyou wrote: »

Can anyone here speak to what it would take to develop quality, standardised online classes? Does the DE need to hire educational professionals to develop the content? Is the content available more or less and just needs to be built by web designers now? How long might this take? US/Mexico seemed to get it up and running in a few months.

I was talking about a standardised approach to teachers going online, platforms they can use etc (for example MS Teams or Blackboard) as opposed to actual content.

Teachers know how to teach - they can do that easily - the problem is confusion about platforms and the technology not the teaching content.

Stateofyou wrote: »

So does anyone here hold the opposite opinion that there's literally no excuse for not having a blending learning/plan b in place by now?

Think you'll find practically every teacher on here were expecting some version of online/blended to form part of the plan when it was announced. Very much a head in the sand approach from the department.

Stateofyou wrote: »

So does anyone here hold the opposite opinion that there's literally no excuse for not having a blending learning/plan b in place by now?

Many teachers have no training in online teaching. Many teachers have no laptop.

You can’t just “go online” and start teaching. Online/blended is an entirely different pedagogical kettle of fish.

seamus wrote: »

She might do it the first time, but when she gets a call 30 minutes after dropping the child off, to come back and collect them, she'll change her mind about it.

Previously schools (and other parents) tolerated kids wandering around with coughs and sniffles, "ah sure it's the season". That won't happen anymore.

Yes it will. Spoke to the crèche this morning and guidance has gone from covid symptoms 14 days out and negative covid test needed to, sure use your common sense some kids will only have a cold or sniffle. Problem is, how do crèche staff know whether they have a cold or covid...... I’ve gone to 0 faith in ability to stop the spread now and will withdraw my kids from ecce.
I don’t think school guidance will be anything different TBH.