David Harding’s phone started to buzz at 6am on Thursday morning as more notifications arrived about teachers and students who would not be returning to school “for Covid-related reasons”.
By 9am the principal at Abbey Community College, Boyle knew he was down 14 teachers out of 38. The school secretary was also out, so taking classes and answering the phone were added to the growing list of his duties. Before the first class ended, the roll call confirmed that just under 200, or 40 per cent of the student cohort was also absent.
“We are down 14 teachers and we have one sub, who incidentally has been with us since October,” the principal noted as he and school deputy principal Frank Colohan walked the corridors ensuring that every classroom had a staff member present.
With more than a third of the teaching staff missing, not including the special needs assistants, the principal was still in upbeat mode and philosophical about the fact that substitute teachers were simply not available.
“The supply is just not there and in fairness even the Government can’t magic them out of the trees,” he said. The Co Roscommon school has twice advertised for staff in recent months “and received the sum total of zero applications”, he pointed out.
Surveying the unusually quiet corridors from the security cameras in his office he said: “Normally they would be really busy. But on the upside isn’t it great to be back. This is where the students want to be.”
With some parents wondering why students can’t have online classes, the principal said this would not solve the staffing issues, as while isolating teachers could teach remotely, students in school still have to be supervised, effectively requiring two staff per class instead of one.
Much quieter
He was not surprised that the school was much quieter than usual for the first day back after the holidays.
“I think many parents are choosing to take these two days to give schools a chance to get back on their feet , and a lot may be in a better position to return on Monday,” he said.
He also suspects many of the teachers “who ran into Covid difficulties” and who have been isolating for several days , may be clear to return to school next week.
Five of the 12 students attending the new autism unit returned on Thursday. The anxiety of parents whose children may be physically vulnerable is shared by Mr Harding, whose daughter Isobelle is one of three students with Down syndrome attending the college’s moderate learning disability unit.
All three were absent and the principal said he understood the decision of the other parents. “As hard we work to keep everyone safe, and while I cannot praise the students enough who are superb about wearing masks, I, as the parent of a child with special needs, understand the worries,” he said.
“Parents believe it’s not safe as the numbers are too high. The reality is that you have to produce a vaccination cert to get into a pub and must be doubly vaccinated to fly but not to saunter into a school.”
While most parents dropping children off were very happy to have the school open, Leaving Cert student Aoife Fitzpatrick was not convinced.
Only six of the 18 students in her German class had returned and she said that when more than half the class is missing, there was little point in the teacher pressing ahead with the programme.
“I don’t think we should be back, to be honest. With such low numbers I think if we were all online, we’d all be in the same boat,” she said.
David Caldbeck was dropping off his daughter after a Christmas holiday which saw the entire family sick with Covid. "I am glad they are back," said the father of a TY student and a fifth year, both of whom are vaccinated. "I do think it was right to reopen. We have to try and keep things going."
Helen Smith from Boyle also welcomed the decision to reopen schools. "I have a 15 year old and it is good to see him getting up and out. I think it is good for them and important for their mental health to be seeing friends, because especially in rural areas they have been missing that."
