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THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION has rejected accusations that schools are operating a “spirit of secrecy” in terms of informing teachers of positive Covid-19 cases.
Norma Foley said it is appropriate that decisions related to informing close contacts be “strictly and only made by public health and no one else.”
He said it was unfair to ask school principals or board members to shoulder the burden of making public health decisions.
Parents have previously expressed concern that schools will not take action on Covid-19 cases until they are contacted by the HSE.
The issue was raised today in the Oireachtas Education Committee by Sinn Fein TD Rose Conway-Walsh.
He expressed concern that principals are being told not to inform teachers when a child has tested positive for coronavirus, and that teachers are being instructed to turn off the Covid-19 tracking app while they are in the school.
Conway-Walsh asked, “Are principals being told not to tell teachers, including the teacher who is teaching the child in the class?
“Are you worried that a spirit of secrecy is being created within the school? Not only within the school, but also within the community, where we have information gaps that are later filled with falsehoods or inaccurate information. “
The minister responded: “I would have to say up front, in terms of any adjudication of a case within a school, or a child or staff member affected by Covid-19, that adjudication is strictly and only carried out by the public health and no one else.
“I think it is very important that decisions about public health in the school sector or in society in general are made by public health professionals.
And it is for that reason, and indeed with the support of the education parties, that school teams are led by public health and no adjudication as to what should happen within a school setting falls on the shoulders of no school principal or member of the leadership of a school.
Conway-Walsh questioned whether it was appropriate for principals to be told “to keep the secret and not even tell the teacher involved that the teacher will also be a close contact with the student.”
“What if the teacher came from a home where they might have high-risk relatives within that, who were not told that they are a close contact of the student involved?”
Foley responded that “the experience of public health means that we accept the public health award.”
He said that at no point did “any principal or member of management within the school setting wish they had placed the burden of having to make a public health award on them.”
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“For this reason, public health is the one that is making the adjudication and nobody else within the school environment,” he added.
The minister said teachers are being informed about close contacts “as soon and as soon as public health has completed the adjudication within the school.”
Conway-Walsh urged her to reconsider the protocols, saying they left people in an “impossible situation.”
“I just want to say that the ethics of secrecy within schools is putting principals in an impossible situation, it is putting parents in an impossible situation and also teachers,” he said.
In response, the minister asked if the deputy was suggesting that public health decisions should be made “by the school principal and by management within the school.
“At no point did I think it was appropriate, and at no point did management or school principals ask for that burden to be placed on them,” he said.
“It was always accepted that adjudication in terms of Covid-19 would have to be done by those who are experts in that field.”
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