Schools to close again.. Covid

Definitely! I do agree.

But unfortunately - as can be seen from the parents posting in this thread - teachers firing off one email a week is fairly common and likely to happen again if we have another lockdown. I know some of my colleagues will be doing this … it’s already being discussed on our staff WhatsApp.

I hope you're calling them out for their shoddy approach to the education of the children in their care.

Yes I am - both in person and you can see me doing the same on boards. I’m also calling out other teachers who are defending and denying this is happening.

i hope you are too.

God I hope you're not a teacher with that kind of flippant attitude to school closures.

A really obscure website called gov.ie.

Here are two recent dates for comparison. I suggest you contact the HSE or Nphet to correct them as Holohan definitely seems to think that hospitalisations are increasing. Anyway, I've had enough of this nonsense.

Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team - Sunday 27 December

From Department of Health 

Published on 27 December 2020

Last updated on 29 December 2020

As of 8am today, 324 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 26 are in ICU. There have been 50 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said:

"We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today. This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease.

For comparison:

Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team - Friday 31 December 2021

From Department of Health 

Published on 31 December 2021

Last updated on 31 December 2021

 The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 20,110* confirmed cases of COVID-19.

As of 8am today, 682 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 86 are in ICU.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said:

“Once again, we are reporting another very high number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is continuing to increase.

You are completely misinterpreting that data. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s not on purpose.

Take a look at the @joebloggs32 data linked above - that is far more accurate and relevant.

Yes, I agree! As a teacher who worked hours daily from the first lockdown online and offline, communicating with parents, doing live lessons and recording lessons for those who couldn’t attend live, correcting and more… ( mostly 12-13 hour days), I am very tired of so much teacher bashing. Yes, some teachers did not do as much as others - this was usually down to individual school policy and poor school leadership in most of these cases. However, many schools including my own went above and beyond because we truly care and worry about our students and their families. Right now, we have problems employing enough substitutes to cover teacher absence and I worry that the constant negativity towards teachers is going to have harsh consequences for our future generations as this career path becomes less attractive to potential students. Who would want to enter a profession about which the media/ social media seems to welcome derogatory comments? Some teachers are now retiring earlier/ changing careers/ going abroad because of such negativity and disrespect. Isn’t there good and bad in every profession? Don’t people ever consider that teachers were thrown into the first lockdown like everyone else and many had no skills and quite often little IT equipment to teach online. Many of us used/ bought our own equipment. It was not provided by the Department of Education and Skills. I know of a teacher who had to record her lessons in a car park on the grounds of a hotel because her internet at home wasn’t adequate but she did this right through the lockdown to help her students. Aren’t we all in this together? The majority of teachers care greatly about the mental health of their students and their families but who actually cares about the mental health of teachers?

Are you actually serious?! You admit to your version of teaching from home is sending one email a week to pupils and then you have the nerve to lecture another teacher about their approach to teaching?! Have you no self awareness?

Duly noted.

Only issue with this is that they've scheduled the LC oral exams to take place the first week of the Easter holidays. Both couldn't happen at the same time (since the whole reason for moving them is said to be because of staffing issues) so it would have to be one or the other.

This is an excellent point.