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Two London boroughs have defied the government and given schools the option to close amid a spiral of coronavirus cases in the capital.
The Redbridge City Council has said it will “support” local schools if they choose to move to online learning starting Wednesday, despite the government threatening legal action and saying they must remain open.
Waltham Forest has also said it will stand by schools if they “make decisions that protect the health and safety of students, teachers and their families.”
The two districts, both east of the city, have the second and fourth tallest COVID-19 infection rates in the capital: 443.9 per 100,000 and 409.4 per 100,000, respectively.
Redbridge Council Leader Jas Athwal said: “It is not the council’s role to close schools, but today we want to be absolutely clear: we will support our local schools if they choose to move to online learning.”
Meanwhile, Waltham Forest leader Clare Coghill stood by the decision she made Monday that schools could close.
She wrote in a statement Tuesday night: “We are confident that Waltham Forest schools have made their decisions based on their own individual risk assessment and with student safety at heart.”
Councilman Coghill added that the threats of legal action were “disappointing.”
London currently has the highest rates of coronavirus in England and has moved to more stringent level 3 restrictions.
But after the Greenwich and Islington councils said they were closing schools over COVID concerns, Education Secretary Gavin Williams chimed in, saying, “It’s just not better for kids than Greenwich, Islington or other schools. places close their doors. “
Both authorities were forced to turn their decisions 180 degrees, with Greenwich council leader Danny Thorpe saying they “had no choice” but to remain open as they “could not justify using public funds to fight the decision in court.”
The Islington Council urged schools to host an insertion day on Thursday, with insertion days already set for Friday, allowing students to end Christmas on Wednesday afternoon.
The recent strong increase in cases in the capital and the rest of the southeast is believed to be due to young people aged 10 to 19.
Worrisome figures have led to great tensions between the government and school leaders, and a Sky News poll suggests more than 70% of directors would be willing to close their doors.
Of 461 heads of schools who responded to the survey, 71% said they would close down and switch to online teaching if necessary to protect staff and students, while 29% said they would not.
In this scenario, schools would remain open for vulnerable children, children of key workers and students with special educational needs (SEND).
A spokesperson for the Department of Education told Sky News in a statement: “It is a national priority to keep educational environments open full time and it is vital that children remain in school until the end of the term.”
