The school, from the date to the nightmare contagions: the unknowns about the reopening

It is a race against time to reopen schools. After the closure in March due to the coronavirus emergency, on Monday, September 14, millions of students are expected to return to classrooms throughout Italy, although there are already some regions that have decided or announced that they want to anticipate or postpone the restart (who find the calendar with the dates, updating). There are many unknowns that weigh on the reopening: from teachers who are losing the appeal to the problem of transport, through the management of lessons to be suspended in case of contagion between the desks. There is still uncertainty about masks and public transportation, and there is an “empty chair” alarm in some regions: principals could find themselves without school collaborators and students without teachers.

In fact, not only has part of the chairs for which it was expected to hire 85,000 teachers have been left empty, but the directors are receiving letters from some teachers asking be able to be exempt of the service because they are “fragile workers”. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has triggered the call “quick call” of teachers, the new procedure foreseen by the decree on schools approved in December in the Courts that allows those who are in the ranking, but have not obtained the position with the normal round of hiring, to apply in another Region where there are places available to first obtain the chair indefinitely. Applications can be made until 11:59 p.m. on September 2.

“Schools must reopen, stadiums can wait”

A few days after reopening, therefore, we rush to untangle the many knots that remain to be resolved. According to the coordinator of the Scientific Technical Committee Agostino Miozzo, at the moment “the priority is the school, restart the lessons. The public for sporting events, sorry, not a priority for now.” In an interview with “Delivery courier” Miozzo explains that schools will reopen on September 14 if the trend of the epidemic continues as it is these days: “If there was a more pronounced increase, we should do evaluations.”

The point of the situation will be announced around September 10 or 11. Miozzo explains that “it may be necessary to be cautious in areas where there should be an increase in cases. But today the reopening of schools is sustainable.” Which is not to say that they couldn’t happen cases of contagion, but they will have to be faced with the necessary calm. “It may happen that a school, even in Italy, has to suspend lessons because there are positive cases,” Miozzo admits. But these events will have to be lived in cold blood, without dramatizing, as is done in other countries ”.

“We made it clear that the discos should not be open”

As for children infected in recent weeks, Miozzo does not skimp on criticism even of the government. “What happened in some situations is scandalous,” he says. We are paying for the superficiality of these months. As Cts we made it clear that the clubs should not be open and that, in any case, the distance of two meters had to be respected ”.

The coordinator of the Scientific Technical Committee also gets to work in the management of overcrowding in public transport. “We have indicated 75% as the maximum percentage of vehicle coverage,” he explains. If the government wants to increase to 80 it can do so, it is a choice. But every time the bar is raised, we run a risk. seen with discos “.