Government plans announced at the end of July to safely reopen schools, including enhanced cleaning regimes and the hiring of more substitute teachers, have been met with criticism by many who say schools are unprepared to manage the safe return of students amid rising case numbers of Covid-19.
A Dublin school teacher has now publicly pleaded with the Taoiseach in Skibbereen, Co Cork to reconsider a “Plan B” before the reopenings go ahead later this month.
Breaking: Taoiseach reprimanded by Dublin schoolteacher over what she describes as "criminal" "unsafe" plans for school reopenings.@VirginMediaNews pic.twitter.com/aSJUJEW1wD
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) August 20, 2020
“30 kids in a classroom and no space for social distancing, you must know that, and I’m going into that situation,” she said. “Our parents are going to be sending kids into unsafe situations.”
“This is not just me – a lot of people I know in Co Dublin, in Kildare, are going into classrooms where there’s 28, 29, 30 kids, and that is criminal.”
Kids will get it, staff will get it, parents will get it, and the wider community will get it.
“I don’t normally use that word, [but] actually what it means is, kids will get it, staff will get it, parents will get it, and the wider community will get it.
“So can I ask you please, to reconsider a Plan B, so that all students are in, all teachers are in, but it is done safely.
“So that means that some of the students may not be in for the full time, but they’re in safely, that’s all what teachers, students, parents need, is a safe opening of schools.”
In response to the teacher’s request, Mr Martin said the safe return of schools was Government’s absolute intention.
“We’ve been in touch with teachers all over the country, we’re getting feedback from all over the country, it’s positive feedback,” he said.
“I’ve been to a school this morning to see how they’re going to do it.”
Great to see the work undertaken by Nagle Community College to get the school ready for reopening next week. Work like this is happening in schools right across the country and I want to thank teachers, SNAs, and all staff for their efforts over the past few months. pic.twitter.com/Nre1GwTaNn
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) August 20, 2020
It comes as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar previously said that outbreaks of Covid-19 within schools would be “inevitable” once they reopened, with his position echoed by acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn.
“I think there will be clusters, there will be cases, it’s virtually inevitable because this is an infectious disease that spreads when people congregate, when people come together,” Dr Glynn said.
“I know the Department of Education and schools have been working really hard on this to minimise risk, but there is no zero-risk environment.”
School buses
It comes as school buses for secondary school students are set to operate at 50 per cent capacity when they return, with the Department of Education confirming this evening that it is in discussions with Bus Éireann about the plans.
The scrapping of plans to run school buses at full capacity follows the most recent advice issued by NPHET this week regarding social distancing on public transport.
Primary school transport will proceed as planned with additional measures and hygiene requirements in place.
