Government been honest with us.
Having installed IR heaters so that classes can both be ventilated and heated at the same time.
High grade HEPA filters in each class.
Poper contact tracing
Regular use of antigen testing, you can get ones that collect saliva in a funnel for smaller kids
More subiture teaches to cover absence.
Agree with this absolutely.
It's like the headline I saw yesterday somewhere saying Holohan says it is "likely" that children will catch Covid in the coming weeks.
He is dead late to that party, it has already happened for a lot of us.Is he only catching on to that now?
I'm sick of all these "experts" that know how safe or unsafe a classroom is and seem to know how to run a school if there are many staff missing.
I'd love to see them come in to my room for a day or two and see if they still hold the same opinion.
We have windows open all day.poor children are froze and we've not even had a harsh weather yet. The light is constantly red telling me that the air is poor quality.
I 100percent don't want to go back to online teaching and do feel that we should be back teaching in schools, HOWEVER, don't tell me it's safe or make light of the situation I've to deal with every day.
If we send a kid home because they are unwell, we get a myriad of abuse from parents because little Johnny only has a cold but they refuse to get a pcr test and end up sending child back the next day or two. Principal is no use, let's them back without proof of pcr and they continued to cough and snot all over the place for the rest of the week . (And beofe you say it, I've 2 children in creche who have paths worn to pcr test centre cos they are sick 360 days a year at this stage)
I'm dreading going back because I know I'll be met with more kids coming in , more than likely with covid symptoms and having to listen to parents shout at me because they are being sent home.
If the government want the classes to be safe then provide the flippin proper safety gear. Proper masks and filtration shouldn't be something that we have to beg for. I dont know why parents aren't going mad at the government for all the lies they are spinning them about what procedures are being put in place. "Pods" aka group seating have always been there. Just because you change the name doesn't make it any safer.
Pods, social distancing and hand hygiene are now all meaningless with regards to covid, certainly in a classroom. All that matters is cleaning the air. In the grand scheme of things it is not overly expensive to provide proper filtration with guidance on how to use it (hepa filters aren't a license to close windows etc) and FFP2 masks.
I absolutely want the kids back in school tomorrow, but I think it's shameful the Department haven't done anything more to make the buildings as safe as possible, and reduce risk of class closures or overall closures. I mean, just, why not???
Yeah, but he said they won't catch in school, it will be from household contacts...
Because of the hugely social nature of Christmas.
Mine go to a community school, not Deis. (The delegation of Deis is another contender for an overhaul but that's for another day). But how do they seem worse than regular schools? Do we not have the same issues with absent teachers on both sides? Not all those parents sending kids to a non Deis school can afford grinds and have a better grip on the pandemic than those on Deis schools.
Two kids in my kid's class got it in the school from one child at their table.Not sure where that one picked it up...elsewhere.A fourth caught it from his parents.My own and one other, I can only assume school although I am entirely clear how, since they don't mix with the first 2 cases.But look, it happened, it was going to come eventually.
Schools (and creches) are safe.
My 2 were straight back to creche yesterday, I did not feel guilty leaving them off. I didn't feel I was putting them in danger. It is clear this virus is pretty much zero risk for kids and very small risk for the overwhelming majority of adults. If they were of school age I'd be dropping them off tomorrow morning with the same feelings.
I accept that we're likely to get it at some point in the next few weeks or months, and that's just the way it goes.
It's time to crack on.
Spot on.
"Children's education is more important than socialising over Chriatmas."
Children's state run child care is more important than socialising over Christmas. Let people be honest - this is about child care. By all means open schools for that reason but please don't insult our intelligence by telling us repeatedly that schools are magically 'safer' places for children to congregate. Not that same children will suffer hugely from Covid but their teachers, assistants and relatives may when bugs brought back from schools.
So , do teachers send their own children to school just for childcare ? What an insult to teachers to consider them child carers
Posters like Furze99 should be just ignored - they show very little intelligence if they think schools are childcare. Hopefully they are not a teacher!
Doesn't really matter what teachers think - that's the daily reality for working (and some non working) parents. And yes, teachers will send their own children to school so that they can work.
Yes this is the issue.
Online classes may have done for 3rd level for a while but they were never delivering a proper education service to primary and secondary.
It doesn’t matter if teachers are insulted by it or not but schools are the largest part of the states childcare service.
Always have been, always will be.
Which is grand so long as members of staff in your child's creche don't suddenly come down with Covid themselves. Which is exactly what has happened with my own son's creche. They were due to reopen today but rang me yesterday to say they can no longer take his pod group again until "sometime next week at the earliest, best case" because two members of staff are in isolation having contracted Covid over Christmas.
Which is exactly how schools are going to operate for the foreseeable.
Parents will have no idea from one day to the next whether their child will be able to go to creche or school, and if they are sent home/told not to come in, for how long that will be the case. Particularly hard in the case of schools where transport might be involved, you could send your child in only to get a call/text home to come and collect them because there's no teacher or supervisor available.
Schools are going to be officially open from tomorrow but I suspect the reality will ultimately be very different and extremely unpredictable.
This is still better than closing schools.
So, close all schools because some might have to close?
In theory, yes, but I suspect in reality it's going to ultimately result in closures by another name along with the added chaos.
I've an ever growing ignore list, click on their profile, top right there is a drop down to ignore them
In reality the majority of pupils are going to be in school the majority of the time.
Have you written to the dept of education and asked them? They're the ones saying it so they will be best positioned to respond. They are quick enough to reply to emails in fairness.
Because the expression that schools are safe environments re covid comes from same Dept Education/ HSE/ Public Health etc. It's they who have coined the concept.
Sure no problem, stick your head in the sand 'cos you don't like the message!
FWIW I have nobody blocked/ ignored. I'll happily read all views. I only bother though to reply to ones that I deem worth the effort.
Well, I didn't use it.
You're happy to waste your time here, repeatedly asking strangers to define it for you. Since you weren't getting an answer (and an answer was what you wanted, I thought) I suggested going to the source.
But an answer is obviously not what you wanted so never mind me - continue to go about your productive day
I am a teacher and I have junior certs, I am further ahead this year than I have ever been so it’s always that teachers are behind. The new Jc is very dumbed down anyway so they will be fine, they just need to be reassured of this fact !!
Secondary teacher. Happy to be going back tomorrow. Sanitize, distance and keep the masks on and it's business as usual.
I foresee individual schools possibly having difficulties regarding staffing and substitution but delighted not to be teaching from home tomorrow.
Where your issues may lie is the domino effect coming from siblings of your students who are in unmasked, packed to capacity classrooms who may test positive.
I do believe secondary schools are safer than primary, safer as in less possibility of transmission of Covid. They are safer for having cop on alone to mind themselves, particularly exam years.
It's still a balls though when project work is not being given any concession for the loss of school hours either by teacher or student over the next few weeks.
Interesting to read how some Teachers think they are been sent into Afghanistan to fight the Taliban; by returning to classes.
When most of them had no problem socializing over the last year in Pubs/Houses/Restaurants and Weddings.
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