Covirus 19 coronavirus: stop playing ‘Russian roulette’ with our children – message from the ECE council to the government

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The government should stop playing “Russian roulette” with children’s health and have an open discussion about Covid-19 risk in early childhood learning centers, MPs reported.

And the executive director of the Early Childhood Council, Peter Reynolds, told the Epidemic Response Committee that the sector has yet to hear anything about what level 2 will be like.

The Ministry of Health justified the reopening of educational institutes below level 3 by saying that the chances of transmission of Covid-19 among children were very low, while the social costs of closing schools were high.

Reynolds said a survey showed that 73 percent of council members were “good or nervous” about the reopening last week, and that the main concern was the transmission of the carrier.

“We are concerned about the operator transmission and we would like to share information with parents, because they are expressing concern.”

He said parents were seeing Covid cases among children abroad and that while transmission between children was possible, “they are not seeing it in government messages.”

“They feel that we have hidden things for us … They [Parents] They need to reassure their child to come back, instead of the kind of thing we’re seeing right now, which frankly seems like a sales pitch.

“We need to stop playing Russian roulette with our children.”

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It is the eighth day of Alert Level 3 and MPs will listen to educators who have opened schools and early childhood centers for a week.

This morning’s committee is being advised by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Victoria, Grant Guilford, and has news from the Early Childhood Council, the New Zealand Federation of Directors, the Auckland School of Grammar, the Oropi School and the Training Organization for the Hair and Beauty Industry.

Many schools and early childhood learning centers were eager to open their doors last week to students up to and including 10 years old, and some said they may refuse to do so due to Covid-19 fears.

Reynolds said many ECE centers also faced a financial collapse because the sector was already under pressure and had been open during Level 3, but they were not charging parents.

He asked for clear Level 2 guidance from the Government, adding that a 1m physical distance rule would be feasible.

But if the current space restrictions were moved to Level 2, he said ECE centers would continue to have half-filled rooms, leading to loss of revenue, layoffs, and the closure of some centers.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will describe what life will be like below level 2 on Thursday, and the cabinet will decide on Monday whether the country is ready to relax from level 3.

The current guidelines under level 2 state that ECE schools and centers will be opened, with distance learning available for those who cannot attend school, such as self-isolated individuals.

The government has asked parents to keep their children at home whenever possible, and last week Ardern said the message appeared to have been heard as attendance at ECE centers was 4 percent, while attendance to schools from 1 to 10 it was 2 percent.

New Zealand Federation of Directors’ national president Perry Rush told the committee that schools were primarily concerned with vulnerable students, who may face the threat of family violence in the home, and recovery students with specific needs teaching.

“This question of what the next step looks like is very critical and somewhat troubling.”

“We are eager to know what the next tranche of public health councils is, which will allow us to think about how to address these issues consistently.”

That public health council was also crucial in addressing current Covid-19 concerns among parents, he said.

“There is a lot of fear out there and, in the future, we have to consider how that fear is treated.”

He praised the work of the Ministry of Education at a difficult time, adding that clear guidance had been provided.

When asked if the schools had enough information and time to prepare for Level 3, Rush said it was a “line call” to reopen the schools and that the main challenge was to force physical distance.

“Schools are complex environments. It’s really impossible to keep 1m or so in the classroom context.”

The challenge was mitigated by low level 3 attendance of about 1 percent of year 1 to 10 students, he said.

“It was a disaster.”

But Auckland Grammar School principal Tim O’Connor criticized the Ministry of Education for what he described as lack of communication, guidance, and strategy for dealing with Covid-19.

“To be frank, colloquially, it has been a disaster.”

Among his examples, O’Connor said he learned of the moves to Level 4 and Level 3 at the same time as everyone else, from the Prime Minister’s press conferences.

“There was no warning prior to those announcements, there were no educational contributions to the decision to return in years 9 and 10 [at level 3]. If it was safe to partially reopen, why not let schools make decisions on years 12 and 13 to return under the safety guidelines?

“Instead, why education was simply synonymous with childcare.”

“No one had a strategy and no one advocated for education.”

He said that the health and safety guidelines for level 2, including expectations for physical distance, would help the school plan how many students can return to campus now.

He said other problems included national access to learning and teaching resources and NZQA’s lack of assurances about the NCEA assessment.

“We have 2,600 students, 158 teachers and 70 support staff members and thousands of parents who deserve some security. We have started giving them that, but the leadership came from the school, not the ministry.”

Hairdressers also hope to be able to open below level 2, but how that might happen with the 1m physical distance rules remains to be seen.

The committee is chaired by national leader Simon Bridges and was created while Parliament was suspended. It continues despite Parliament sitting in limited capacity again.