Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland children go back to school, but not everyone is convinced it is safe

By Harry Lock for RNZ

With around 250,000 children going back to school in Auckland today, teachers and parents are divided on whether or not they should go back.

The government announced yesterday that the move down to alert level 2.5 will continue, meaning that all schools will reopen and all children are expected to attend.

In a bulletin sent to schools on Friday, the Education Ministry outlined what schools must and must not do under alert level 2.

Schools are not classified as gatherings, so people can gather in groups of more than 10, although social distancing measures will be implemented, including physical distancing, hand hygiene, etiquette when coughing and sneezing, and periodic cleaning and disinfection of high contact persons. surfaces.

All institutions will also be made to display a QR code and maintain a log to allow contact tracing.

But despite these precautions, some parents and teachers are concerned about the decision to return while the cases are still being identified.

An Auckland mother of four, who wished to remain anonymous, said she would keep her children at home for at least another week.

“What makes me decide not to leave the kids home from school for another week is my uncertainty, more than anything someone is doing right or wrong.

“I just don’t know, and since I can keep them at home, I’d rather do it, for my own peace of mind.”

Her four children go to four separate schools, and she said another factor is that they live in an area where some cases have been confirmed.

She wasn’t sure that school children could keep their distance from each other.

“It seems to me that even older teens cannot, at this point, make sensible decisions about social distancing.

“I worry about things like walking to and from classrooms, crowded hallways.”

Frances Mahoney said she was, for the most part, relieved to send her 14-year-old son back to school.

Her son attends Mount Albert Grammar, a school that was part of the Marist group during the first closure, and two students tested positive in this more recent group.

All students and staff were tested late last week and there have been no further positive results, he said.

While she knows of some parents who were concerned about sending their children back, she is not one of them.

“Only me [think] Look, at the end of the day, they turn it off really fast, if there’s a problem. I’m very comfortable. They are very strict with the fact that if they are not well, please do not come to school. “

In countries like the United Kingdom, the use of masks has been made mandatory for students in common areas. There, the government has advised high school students to wear masks.

But while in New Zealand the use of masks will be mandatory on public transport, school buses have an exemption.

The Ministry of Education did not clarify whether its policy of supporting but not requiring masks was pending reconsideration.

Post Primary Teachers Association Vice President and Auckland-based teacher Melanie Webber said the different rules were confusing.

“For example, for things like wearing masks, that you have to wear a mask on a public bus, but you don’t have to wear one on a school bus, that kind of inconsistency is concerning.”

Auckland Primary Heads Association President and Point Chevalier School Principal Stephen Lethbridge said they were following Ministry of Education guidelines, which state: “Face covering is not required in school or at no school transportation Anyone who chooses to use a cover whatever configuration must be supported to do so

“We are encouraging all of our communities to wear masks when they go out in public, but we are also not dissuading anyone from bringing masks when they want to.”

Webber said he was in conflict with the disparity between what could happen in schools and the rest of society.

“There is no perfect answer to this, it is really complicated. We really want to see our students, but we are concerned about seeing our students. We are concerned about what will happen to their education, and we are concerned about what is going to happen in the future. “.