Covirus 19 coronavirus: day care centers want to remain closed at alert level 3

New Zealand child care centers have asked the government to allow them to remain closed at level 3 of the coronavirus alert system due to the risk of the virus spreading.

The Executive Director of the Early Childhood Council, Peter Reynolds, wrote to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying that early childhood care involves “intimate interaction” between children and adults, so the required social distancing at the level 3 is impossible.

“We are taking that position because of the carrier’s risk of sharing the virus: parents who are moving, going to work, interacting with others even at safe levels,” he said.

“There is too much at stake. The last thing the child care centers need is to reopen, only to have to close again five minutes later.”

His explosive statement adds to the growing backlash from teachers and some parents against Ardern’s decision to reopen early childhood services and schools through 10 to care for children whose parents have to return to work at the alert 3.

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He said Thursday that the number of people who returned to work at alert level 3 would double to about 1 million.

More than 25,000 people have signed a petition initiated by Huntly’s early childhood teacher Hannah Swinkels that all schools and early childhood centers remain closed on level 3.

She said that if each child in a childcare group of six had four people in their household bubbles, and if their working parents each came into contact with 10 people at work, and if each of those 10 people also If you had four people in your bubble home, then each child in child care would be exposed to 960 people.

In fact, child care groups could be much higher. The proposed new rules will initially allow up to 10 children in each group, and up to 20 “once all processes are running smoothly.”

The Teaching Council, an independent body that governs teacher training and registration, has also taken the rare step of writing to Education Minister Chris Hipkins, saying that every school and early childhood service should have “autonomy to determine your own plan for when and how they will safely reopen. “

“We ask for a reiteration of a message they gave us recently, that all schools and centers are unlikely to return at the same time,” the council told Hipkins.

He said that school principals and managers of early childhood services “also need the authority and autonomy to accept whether or not children attend.”

“This decision making should not rest entirely with parents and caregivers on a voluntary basis,” he said.

So far, Ardern and the Ministry of Education have simply stated that early childhood services and schools through year 10 “will be physically open to those in need” at level 3, leaving no apparent option for schools or private centers remain closed.

Education Ministry Director Iona Holsted said Saturday: “There are no criteria that dictate who can and who cannot send their children to school. Parents and caregivers better understand their own unique situation and needs and will make the decision. Correct question about whether your child will continue learning from home or can return to the classroom learning in a safe school environment. “

But Teaching Council Executive Director Lesley Hoskin said schools and early childhood services would need to be able to limit the number of children, depending on how many teachers are available and how much space they have under new rules requiring at least 3 square meters of interior space per child during level 3.

Kaye Brunton, principal of the Ngāti Toa decile-3 school in Porirua, said that eight of her 14 employees had health problems that weakened her immune system, and she herself is concerned about her 88-year-old mother who lives with her.

In an article for the Herald, she writes: “The Level 3 rules that force some families to risk their lives, while others may remain as spectators from the safety of their bubble, are not equitable.”

Reynolds said there were still too many unanswered questions after Ardern first announced that school and early childhood attendance would be “voluntary”, only to have that word removed from the Covid-19 official website a day later. .

“Right now, everything is going halfway and we are not comfortable with that,” he said.

Education Ministry director Iona Holsted said the ministry will work closely with schools and early learning services to make sure they can handle the number of children who need to attend.

“Parents and caregivers, like all New Zealanders, know that we are in extraordinary times and that they will play their part in helping to keep their children at home, but it is important that schools and early learning centers are physically open to those parents. they need them, “she said.

“Many schools are already in cooperation agreements through Kāhui Ako [Communities of Learning], and where they can be used to support the response to the need of children and their families, we will be very supportive.

“It has been great to hear from teachers and leaders willing to make early childhood services and schools available to those who need them.”