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LAST UPDATE | 2 Sep 2020
EDUCATION MINISTER NORMA Foley has said that priority testing will be provided for school children and teachers where an outbreak of Covid-19 occurs.
The minister made the comments before the Committee on Covid-19 this afternoon, where she discussed the reopening of schools.
Foley told the committee that she had raised the issue of testing with the Department of Health and the HSE.
“Priority testing will be provided where there is an outbreak in a school and schools will be treated no differently to the priority testing that is being provided in other environments where a situation of that nature occurs,” she said.
She added that she understood the “trauma and worry” of families who are in that situation.
Many primary and secondary schools are reopening their doors to staff and students this week following six months of closure.
Politicians also heard that in the event of an outbreak it will “not be automatically assumed” that a whole class will be deemed as close contacts.
Instead close contacts will be directly notified by the HSE and advised to restrict their movements and present for testing on day zero and day seven.
“There is no blanket policy to test entire classes or years,” she said.
“The testing strategy will be aligned to the Public Health Risk Assessment which may recommend widespread swabbing within a class or school under HSE mass testing procedures.”
Opening statement
In her opening statement to the Dáil Covid-19 Committee, Foley discussed the “massive daily logistical undertaking” regarding school transport.
On 21 August, Foley said it will be “quite a logistical challenge” to provide transport for secondary school students with buses set to run at 50% capacity following advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
School transport for primary students are unaffected by the latest advice from NPHET.
It had previously planned to run school buses at full capacity when pupils return this month, but to have students wear face coverings to help stop the spread of Covid-19.
Foley said up to 1,600 buses are required to ensure secondary school students can get to school, and that the government was working on providing this transport as “quickly as possible”.
The Education Minister also told the Committee this afternoon that Bus Éireann has advised that in the region of a total of 400 of a total of 2,100 post-primary services are in a position to operate at 50% capacity from the start of this school year, but that this figure is “subject to increase”.
She said that Bus Éireann has returned to the market, seeking additional operators to provide services.
Responding to queries from Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh O Laoghaire, who described it as “chaotic”, Foley said it was proving to be “a massive daily logistical undertaking” and there would be a requirement for an additional 1,600 buses and drivers.
Leaving Cert
Foley also discussed the announcement yesterday in which she confirmed that the past academic performances of schools will not be used to ‘standardise’ this year’s Leaving Cert students’ results.
Under the new model, 17% of teacher-predicted grades will be reduced, while 4% will be increased.
The change agreed yesterday removes the use of school-by-school historical data in the standardisation model. The Department of Education said yesterday that the updated model places a greater emphasis on the estimated marks provided by teachers to students.
Gender and location was also not taken into account when standardising teacher grades.
Foley told the Committee that in making the change, she was “driven by the desire to ensure equity and fairness in the process”.
Over the summer, approval was given by government for over €375 million in additional funding necessary to implement the safe return to school.
Foley said that, to date, the payments made to schools exceed €160 million.
She also discussed a letter and a HSE document titled ‘Schools Pathway for Covid-19, the Public Health Approach’ which was issued to all schools last week setting out the approach to managing isolated confirmed cases of Covid-19 within the school community.
With reporting from Press Association.
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Well done to asti they stood up to this evil government
Let’s hope they continue to do so.
Asking the membership to vote on the SAME issue for a third time in quick succession would be a disgrace & if it happens, many members will stop paying their union subs.
Listen to your membership, not this toxic government with their acts of coercion they call “agreements”
They should be ashamed of them selves lazy sods
To whom are you referring?
Never met a non lazy union member
Fire them 10 at a time until they mend their ways and egos
Probably just a bowel movement.
A1
ASTI realises it is out on a limb,looking at Quinner with the saw.
Hardly. Quinn wouldn’t know how to use a saw. A sledgehammer is more his style
These teaches sicken me and any other hard working person in ireland. They don’t even know how easy they have it.
Wbat plandt are you on?? imagine dealing with likes of you tines 30!
Why do I think this is the union leadership (clueless of the realities of teaching) are selling us down the river !!
Can’t see how they can change the croke park/ haddington road deal sufficiently to make me want to vote for it ! The ability to carte blanche changes to my contract on the future without negotiation is enough of a reason to say no – no private sector worker would accept it so why should I !!
If they try to re-ballot us yet again then that will signal the end of the Asti as a union because they will not have any members left
Kenneth’s obviously just a troll; don’t feed him!
A slave more like
Perfectly happy with the status quo. No to Haddington Road. No to pointless Croke Park hours. No to unpaid S and S. No to any further erosion of our terms of employment.
No escalation in industrial action by the ASTI members, yet Min Quinn has not introduced legislation to block supervision & substitution payments that TUI members no longer receive.
The “open-day season” has come and gone and complaints by irate parents seem to have died down.
All quiet on the Western Front?
If ASTI unwilling to perform their jobs to the required standard, they should all be replaced. Plenty if NQTs who can’t get a sniff of a job. I’m sure they would be willing to perform the tasks required of them. ASTI are out of touch with reality. Hiding behind this “out of concern for the children” rubbish. They are only concerned with feathering their own nests. Given that they have 4.5 months holiday, their pay per hour actually worked is one of the highest in the state, yet still they think they are entitled to be shielded from the recession. Why?……..because they have an Arts degree?
The ASTI members would have been better off renouncing the supervision-and-substitution payments and refusing to the Croke Park/Haddington Road hours.
Possibly, but then schools would have closed, something most teachers don’t want to see happen, I know I don’t.
They’ve imposed draconian measures on us, grand, now feck off and let us teach, unless they want meaningful conversation on JC reform & “extra hours”
@Liam H
“but then schools would have closed”
Not necessarily. What I meant is that they could do S&S without payment. S&S are hardly stressful tasks. Schools have a duty of care towards pupils.
Your being led into a dead end
By noise makers and lads that dont
Seem to grasp the reality of the situation.
If only the.private sector enjoyed the same protection. . But hey. .divide and conquer
If only the public sector could get the same wage increases as the private sector received!!
Here here Des !!!!!
Ill put it another way to these
Lads..enough faffing around
All out strike or take your bite
Of the huge shit sandwich
Like everybody else
have your say