Covirus 19 coronavirus: school at level 3 will not be voluntary after all

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Parents will be informed when their children return to school, rather than having the option to attend classes.

Officials admitted to a “bug” in the way the rules for level 3 were communicated in the coronavirus alert system this week. Returning to school will not be “voluntary”.

The Federation of Directors’ president, Perry Rush, says that the director of the Ministry of Education, Iona Holsted, has confirmed that schools will be able to enroll students in their physical sites during level 3 only if nobody is available to take care of them in House.

“I had a clarification today that the term ‘volunteer’ is muddying the waters. It is not a voluntary return to school,” he said.

“It is ‘if you need to be in school, you can.’ Voluntary implies wanting; the need is if you have to be there. That was unequivocally communicated by Iona.”

Ministry bulletins issued at 9 p.m. Tonight’s schools and early childhood services said that at level 3: “Parents and caregivers keep their children at home and maintain distance learning wherever possible; parents and caregivers can send children children to school if they need it. “

At 6 pm, the government’s Covid-19 website still said: “Physical attendance at school is voluntary, but all children not in school should learn at a distance.”

But by 9 p.m. that phrase had been replaced by: “Where possible, students should stay connected to distance education at home. When parents or caregivers need it, they can send their children to school.”

The newsletters also say that at level 3:

• Group sizes (bubbles) in schools and early learning will be limited initially to 10 children, then to 20 “once all processes are running smoothly.” There should be no mixing between bubbles.

• Start and end times and rest times should be staggered to avoid mixing between bubbles.

• Strict health rules must be followed, including hand sanitizer in all classes and daily disinfection of all surfaces.

• Physical education cannot allow children within two meters. Without balls, ropes or sticks.

• Special schools and extracurricular programs remain closed.

• New rules for early childhood include more space per child and raise minimum temperature from 16C to 18C.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that schools and early childhood services will reopen when the country goes to level 3 on a “voluntary” basis.

“Early childhood centers and schools will be available until year 10 only, but attendance is purely voluntary,” he said.

READ MORE:
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• Coronavirus Covid 19: what you need to know about Thursday’s big developments
• Covid 19 Coronavirus: More options for parents: Bay of Plenty schools welcome partial opening

The announcement alarmed many parents and teachers.

A mother from a family where both adults work from home has described her “moral dilemma” about whether to send her two children to school so that adults can focus on their work or “keep stress levels incredibly high from doing juggling both. ” life at home and at work, and protecting the health of our beloved children and amazing teachers. “

Another family, whose daughter Georgia Martin turned 5 on the first day of Level 4 closure, has been caught in “a state of limbo” with no news from Georgia’s planned school of when it might start.

Teachers commenting on the Facebook page of the New Zealand Educational Institute are also overwhelmingly concerned about the safety of others in the “bubbles” of their homes and are reluctant to return to their classrooms until the alert level drops to the level two.

Hillcrest High School teacher Stevan Sharples told the Herald that the decision was to gamble on the lives of the children and their teachers.

“This is not a Russian roulette game! Covid-19 is the weapon. And we are the players! The government is pulling the trigger and there will be no winners here,” he said.

Rush joined the chorus on Thursday night, saying it was “inconsistent” to allow companies to reopen only under strict rules for physical distance while re-opening schools for young children where physical distance is impossible.

However, after speaking yesterday with Holsted and other officials, Rush told other principals that “careful planning will be carried out to make the government’s plan viable while maintaining the safety of staff and students.” .

“That includes the probability that students will not be allowed to show up randomly at school. Rather, it is likely that an alert level 3 will be established for each school,” he said.

He said schools had to know which students should be on school premises and which should be at home, so that those who should be at school can be tracked if they do not show up.

“The other important information is that the government is clear about who can return to school, and by that I mean that the message is: ‘Stay home if you can. If you cannot, and you need to attend a school, then you can'”, said.

“I think the government would agree to that communication, or the lack of it yesterday [Thursday], it was a false step. However, today’s conversation was really constructive, with a lot of commitment to working together to develop the details. “

He said teachers and parents who were concerned about the risk should wait to see the situation when schools reopen, probably on April 29 if the Cabinet decides to move to Level 3 on Monday. Eight new cases of Covid-19. although two more New Zealanders died.

“We have to be careful not to make assumptions about what April 29 will be like, if that is the date,” he said.

Council of Early Childhood Executive Director Peter Reynolds said the Ministry of Education had obtained a supply of hand sanitizer that would be distributed free of charge to all schools and early childhood centers around April 29.

He said the ministry accepted that trying to keep young children a meter away from each other and from teachers would cause distress and “do more harm than good.”

However, child care centers would try to contain children in a “bubble” in each center through measures such as asking parents to stay outside when they drop off and pick up children.

Rush said close contact within every bubble in elementary schools was inevitable. But he said that schools could keep children in separate class bubbles within the school through changes like amazing lunch breaks and school start and end times.

Holsted said, “Every school and early learning service will be in a different situation.”

“There are still many details to work on before we can start reopening schools and early learning services and public health and safety remain the top priority,” he said.

“We also know that every family is different. We ask that parents who can keep their children at home while we are at Level 3 do so to allow schools and early learning services to provide families with the least first. flexibility at home. home. “