Covid in Schools

Random sample wrote: »

Teachers are not to do their own contact tracing without consulting the principal.

Where did you see that?

The principal is then to contact the DES, they aren’t being asked to do the contact tracing.

Random sample wrote: »

The principal is then to contact the DES, they aren’t being asked to do the contact tracing.

Contact the DES........who are only contactable by email as they are all working remotely !!!!!
And will not respond
So what then ?

It’s a HSE matter . If they can’t cope schools have to close .

km79 wrote: »

http://twitter.com/McConnellDaniel/status/1318991746404130819

“90% of schools have had NO DIFFICULTY “
Wow
She tweeted earlier about extra resources
Extra resources for teaching some commemoration In JC History .
She is so far out of her depth it’s not even funny. It’s scary. And was entirely predictable!
Being a teacher and being a Minister for Education are entirely different jobs .....

Totally and utterly out of her depth. Not her fault as she was given the position. Gender quotas and geographical reasons shouldn't have been a consideration at all.

So much talk about the health of teachers and students which is of course very important but im consistantly seeing and hearing no mention of the health and welfare of SNA's who cannot socially distance and often have to move around the classroom to work with different children in close contact. Not to mention how in special classes and schools, the children cannot adhere to hygiene or social distancing guidelines.
I have 2 friends and a relative who are all SNA's in different schools, every one of them has said there are outbreaks of positive cases in each of their schools and this is just in one very small town in the midlands were overall numbers have been low in comparison to the rest of the country. Theyve also all be told not to speak of the positive cases outside of school but of course they are going to, their anxiety is so high as one of them is high risk and another lives with her elderly mother. Why are school staff being expected to keep their mouths shut? With all this talk of mental health during the crisis and school staff cant even share their anxieties with friends and families or risk getting into trouble.
To add to this none of them have been provided with PPE, there is no space in classes to accommodate social distancing. I saw a picture on an Irish times post that showed a classroom with every second table covered in red tape, this couldnt be further from the reality. This is the image theyre trying to project to the public while telling school staff to keep their mouths shut!
Its nothing short of a total disgrace what is happening in schools and staff should by every means be protesting.
In Varadkars words 'by hook or by crook' schools will stay open and evidently he meant that statement. Emphasis on 'crook'.

shesty wrote: »

No you would have to look at the rates of spread....
There will still be cases as schools are open. I think in theory if schools are not driving the transmission rates high quickly, then cases should drop to a certain low and settle there over a period.If schools are contributing more than is suspected, it would be a higher settling point and slower to happen I feel.But you would need a good 4 weeks and even better 6 weeks of data to show this.In addition the test and trace should contribute because it should show what proportion of the cases are coming from where.You would have to look at all the data over time, not just case numbers.

Basically closing everything else down should clear a lot of the noise out of the data.

Sorry, I am tired, that may not be the clearest explanation of what I mean.

Oh I understand what you are saying (I think).......my point is you are measuring transmission when a number of nodes have been knocked out by going to level 5 then the rates probably will drop .... but that doesnt mean schools were not significant drivers when all nodes were active in the community

I think you are right on one thing btw ....a comprehensive testing and tracing program (but crucially where the criteria is the same for all locations) would work as a means of determining whether schools are big drivers of transmission at any level

If the rates drop really low over the coming weeks then all you have proved imo is that schools can remain open without driving transmission as long as the other stuff is shut down, not that they wont be a significant factor in driving transmission when you open everything back up or werent in the past for that matter

Now if there had been a comprehensive tracking and tracing program in place where schools were treated like other locations we could use trustworthy data to say categorically how big of a driver of transmissions schools were and even narrow it down geographically etc

But imo you cant trust the numbers at all .....look at the way they are defining close contacts etc

Now dont get me wrong, im not arguing to close schools (most aquaintances I know still teaching would far rather they stay open tbh) ....I just think attempts are ongoing to pull the wool and I wouldnt buy the party line for a second without seeing reliable data as opposed to what appears to be partially at least pr/bull****/spin

I dont know how we can have more faith in a FB group than in official figures? It depends how you count them, the case in our school was picked up outside school, for sure and there have been no further cases over two weeks later.

I'd imagine that that case shouldn't be counted in the figures as it wasn't transmitted in the school. But because it is a person linked to a school the fb group counts it?

At that rate we should be looking at employees of convenience stores, shoe shops etc. And if the whole u16 Club GAA team contract covid following a celebration, and they are all in 5th year, does that mean that there are 30 cases in that school?

Even that expression, theres COVID in this school or in that school, drives me nuts. Covud is every where, it's not a reflection on the school. If th DC car had kittens the school would be blamed I think sometimes.

The Facebook group I saw, with the stated purpose of exposing the truth etc. to parents, seems to be populated with letters and texts from schools, to parents, about cases in schools.

Whatever about the HSE and differences in the compilation of figures the notion that schools are covering up cases is very unfair.

Alex86Eire wrote: »

This is not solely for teachers but it is posted in the teaching forum which means the vast majority of people who post and interact here are teachers. Its a place where teachers can voice concerns/share strategies.

Every page or two a new person pops in and talks about how teachers are always complaining/how so many people have it worse etc. This adds nothing to the thread and usually derails it for a few posts. This has happened over and over and over again so may explain some of the previous posts.

There is a schools reopened thread in the coronavirus section of the Current Affairs forum that may suit people.

If you folks want this thread to remain an echo chamber for teachers only, and shout down any parents that wander in... why not remove it from "trending" on front page. That will stop the majority of people wandering in that seem to upset you so much.

Gatling wrote: »

One parent was threatened with legal action by a principal for posting a status update saying a child tested positive in her childs school and she was nervous ,but yet the principal decided to make a threat of legal action a bit over the top for my liking

Where did you read that? Hadn't seen it anywhere.

Balagan1 wrote: »

This thread voices your "concerns/share strategies" for your working lives under Covid but in full view of teachers the official cover-up of the Covid figures in schools is continuining affecting both teachers and pupils. Your unions are rightfully expressing concerns for the alarming situation of your teachers/SNAs etc., but make precious little reference to the welfare of the pupils/students. Your unions and you have the power to contribute to ending this official hedging of the numbers and demand the real figures be fully published. I would urge you to take responsibility, not only for your own selves as teachers/SNAs but for the bigger picture of the protection young people entrusted to your care every day. Teachers unions have their terms of reference and I understand that. But this pandemic has thrown out the rule books on all our lives.

INTO have asked for those figures, they were laughed at.

You saw it in threads on boards where the reaction was along the lines of who do they think they are, do they think they are special, what makes them different to other sectors.

Schools will be left open until things are very very bleak and then there might be a few hours notice to vacate the building.

Balagan1 wrote: »

This thread voices your "concerns/share strategies" for your working lives under Covid but in full view of teachers the official cover-up of the Covid figures in schools is continuining affecting both teachers and pupils. Your unions are rightfully expressing concerns for the alarming situation of your teachers/SNAs etc., but make precious little reference to the welfare of the pupils/students. Your unions and you have the power to contribute to ending this official hedging of the numbers and demand the real figures be fully published. I would urge you to take responsibility, not only for your own selves as teachers/SNAs but for the bigger picture of the protection young people entrusted to your care every day. Teachers unions have their terms of reference and I understand that. But this pandemic has thrown out the rule books on all our lives.

https://www.forsa.ie/close-schools-until-health-and-safety-measures-improve-forsa/

my union has come straight out asking for schools to close after midterm unless safety in massively increased. People dont care and the department isnt listening, what are we supposed to do?

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

I have to say that nearly every teacher I know doesn't want schools to close but we all want things to change. Personally I think all children from 4th up should be wearing masks at all times while on school grounds. Obviously this also applies to secondary as well.

of course, same goes for SNAs to be honest, we all want schools open, but we certainly arnt okay with the way things are, they need to reduce numbers, get on top of contact tracing, be open about cases in schools, and provide proper ppe gear.

The government seems to have a policy of pretending that someone next to you gets covid and then you get covid is just coincidence in schools. As a previous poster said.
Thus the figures from school are highly suspect.
I see the prospect of schools closing as likely.
The unions of all levels are turning up the heat.
Parents not happy even though their shills in the national parents council say otherwise.
I can see closure coming a week after mid term.
Asti ballot result should be out next week.

thomas 123 wrote: »

You would think teachers would have a more private, vetted, members only place to voice concerns...

You would think people who are not teachers, would have better things to do then troll the teacher and lecturing forum.