As the Woy Woy Peninsula’s school students returned to the classroom from February 1, parents and teachers expressed apprehension about returning to work and sending their kids back to school.
The NSW Government’s plan to get students back into classrooms included relying on staff and students taking rapid antigen tests (RATs) twice a week for the first month, with schools required to distribute the tests to families within the first week of term.
President of Ettalong Woy Woy Teachers Association Chris Wright said the plan is worrisome for many teachers and families.
“RATs are meant to be such a crucial part of the Government’s scheme to keep schools open but the details of how that’s going to work is still vague,” Wright said.
“How are we going to get students and teachers to get tests on a consistent basis and do we even have enough.
“We also know you can be infectious with COVID for a number of days before you return a positive rapid test – so it is not a silver bullet.
“Adding to our concern is that COVID affects you worse the older you are.
“Largely the students will be less affected in terms of how they will be impacted by the virus if they contract it [but] I’m in my 50s and I am concerned.
“I don’t want to be told let’s loosen the rules on close contacts and let’s just keep schools open.
“Individuals have rights and we are not just resources to be exploited just to keep schools open.”
Jane Parke, a concerned parent of two girls said she would rather keep her daughters home until they were fully vaccinated.
“I think it is reckless to send kids back to school if they are not fully vaccinated,” Parke said.
“It is sort of endangering the community because most likely there will be an outbreak and it will spread to more than just the school community, it will be the whole community.
“I am concerned about my daughters picking up the virus and passing it on to myself or my elderly mother.
“The teachers are quite vulnerable and they have families and children that also need to be considered.
“I wanted to hold my daughter back at home until the second vaccine to make sure she was protected but I have been told that’s not allowed.”
Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, said all schools must receive air purifiers to help ensure student safety.
“It is not hard to see Dominic Perrottet’s let it rip attitude is not working and there’s genuine concern among both parents and staff about letting COVID rip through our local schools,” Tesch said.
“This on top of the fact that both parents and teachers whom I have spoken with have advised they are yet to receive any information on the tests is worrying.
“Unlike schools in Victoria, our schools are yet to receive air purifiers and there’s no plan to distribute these.
“The Perrottet Government instead has said they will be distributed ‘where they are needed’.
“I’m sure we can all agree they are needed in all of our classrooms.”
Tesch said the teaching shortage in public schools already being experienced across NSW adds another complexity to the reopening of schools.
Wright agrees, stating that solutions for who is going to cover the sick teachers is “just not cutting it right now.
“When you combine the fact that we already had problems with a teacher shortage this is just going to exacerbate it,” Wright said.
“The plan to get retired teachers back in the classroom to deal with the expected increased shortage is problematic to say the least. We know older people are some of the most vulnerable people to COVID.”
“On top of this, fast-tracking student teachers is not the answer.
“We know we have a problem retaining new teachers so bringing them into a classroom in the worst possible environment I doubt is going to improve those statistics.”
“They seem to be coming up with answers that are just going to be adding to the issue.
“Let’s be honest, now the COVID situation is more problematic than it ever was and schools will continue to be a place where the virus spreads.
“The reality is we all know we are going to go back to school under very stressful conditions.”
Source:
Media release, Jan 25
Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch