Schools to stay open for longer
SCHOOLS will open earlier and close later each day as part of the €375million plan to have children back in class in four weeks’ time.
Minister for Education Norma Foley was last night insistent that all schools would be back up and running in the last week of August, as she unveiled her road map to reopening the sector.
Schools are now in a race against the clock to put all the necessary measures in place before students can safely return next month.
Retired teachers will be asked to come back into the classroom as part of the plan that will see a thousand extra teachers hired to help reduce class sizes.
Additional substitute educators, supervision staff, guidance counsellors and psychologists will also be part of the major initiative.
Construction will be begin immediately on 4,000 schools around the country to expand classroom sizes, upgrade bathrooms and other essential reconfiguring measures.
The Opposition raised concerns last night that, with just four weeks to go, there may not be enough time for the necessary building work to be carried out.
However, Minister Foley said that schools will have to ‘reimagine’ how they meet capacity needs.
This includes using assembly areas, libraries, gyms and town halls as classrooms, she said.
The Minister said she did not envisage schools deploying prefabs on their campuses.
She said: ‘They [schools] know exactly what needs to be done and
‘I do not envisage any delays’ ‘Schools at heart of our communities’
it can be done in a very short period of time – much of this work has already been done.’
Asked by this newspaper whether delays in increasing capacity to achieve the one-metre distance requirement at secondary school level could postpone the reopening of some schools, Minister Foley said: ‘I do not envisage there will be any delays.’
The Department of Education will contact 2,000 teachers who are registered but not working as well as allow the 1,300 teachers currently job sharing or working reduced hours to increase their teaching time. They will also fasttrack the registration of newly qualified teachers in Ireland and from overseas.
More than one million students and about 100,000 staff will be returning to 4,000 schools at the end of August, in a key priority of the new Government. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: ‘There is simply no substitute for students learning within schools in the presence of their peers and teachers.’
Children will have designated seats on school buses and be asked to sit beside those they share a household with where possible. An additional €11million in funding will be provided for safe travel.
In primary school, students below third class will not be expected to practice social distancing in the classroom. Each class will be a bubble and children will be in pods with a metre between the pods.
Break times may be staggered, play activities may be mostly outdoors, or groups may be kept very small allowing children the opportunity to play and socialise.
In secondary schools, however, there will be a one-metre distance between all desks. Pupils will also have staggered breaks and lunch times to enable social distancing.
An extra 120 guidance workers will be hired to support student well-being through the process.
Face masks will not be essential for staff or students. However, secondary school pupils will be expected to wear a face covering on school buses, apart from those with medical exemptions.
They will use hand sanitisers upon boarding. Minister Foley also said classes travelling on school buses will be treated as one unit.
An additional €52million will pay for enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission, the Government said.
A total of €4.2 million will enable employment of an aide to implement logistical changes needed in schools such as moving furniture, changing classroom layouts, and setting up hand-sanitising stations and signage.
Minister Foley said: ‘We have worked extremely hard to develop plans that not only provide certainty to schools as to what they need to do, but that are meaningful, practical and realistic.’
Mr Martin said reopening represented an unprecedented policy and logistical challenge.
He added: ‘Our schools are at the heart of our communities and reopening them is a critical step in recovering from the worst impact of the pandemic.
‘It is a comprehensive range of measures backed by major new resources. Extra staff, extra funding, clear guidance and new supports will help every school adapt to its own needs.’
Each school will have a tailored plan in place for if a student becomes unwell. The student will be brought to an isolation room and their parents and public health officials called. If there is a positive case it is likely the entire class will have to quarantine for two weeks.
There are specific guidelines around extra-curricular activity such as sports and music.
There will also be additional funds for Special Schools and mainstream schools with special classes to support them in reopening fully. This includes making sure that all Special Needs Assistant absences are fully covered. The road map received mixed reaction from teaching unions. The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) said they are ‘concerned that the investment and resources being made available to schools may be insufficient’.
The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO General Secretary John Boyle welcomed the plan but cautioned that ‘the beginning of the academic year will be the most challenging ever experienced by everyone in school communities’.
Meanwhile, Gary Gannon TD, the Social Democrats’ spokesperson on Education, said he feared the lateness of the plan will not give schools enough time to get the necessary building work done to ensure a safe reopening.
He said: ‘In addition, we have 750 post primary schools and there is a very real concern that 1,000 teachers may not be enough if there is a second wave of the virus.’