Still no air filters in schools?

[wondersun]

Is anyone else really hacked off that there are still no air filters in schools??

The kids don’t spread it / don’t get sick from covid nonsense narrative has been replaced with cases are low due to school holidays (so much nicer when covid knew to wait at the school gates!) but the government are still refusing to do something so simple which could make schools safer.

Its like they don’t want to admit it’s worth avoiding repeat covid infections so therefore have to do nothing to stop/slow the thread and risk inevitable questions.

Even if it just slows it - every covid infection is a roll of long covid etc risks - why do they seem so keen to spread it round asap.

Kids generally get chickenpox once then done.

The ‘children benefiting from natural immunity’ crowd fucked up when they tried to apply the same argument to covid.

Yep. It’s mind boggling. I think people just don’t want to accept that improvements need to be made and that the country is currently - massively - failing children, teachers, families and inevitably all of society.

Do you want to know what I find mind boggling? That some people's lives are so cosy / schools are so great they believe spending money on fucking air filters should be anywhere near the top of the list of priorities.

Like jesus christ my school is full of children who don't have a second pair of shoes for P.E. and rely on a 30 minute soft start every morning just to make sure they're all in on time and are given breakfast. Food banks, uniform banks, winter coat banks, fruit banks, adult eduction and mental health provision all being managed via the school. There's at least two classes at full capacity in every year, many years have three, all of them with numerous children who don't speak English and that's without every class being assigned an additional 2 - 4 Ukrainians (who have just fled a war stricken country, left their families behind and don't speak a lick of English, no additional support needed there at all, right?!). They're teaching them outside, sending P7s to the high school and have covered the playground in portacabins trying to accommodate them. Do you want me to touch on the SEN and the amount of children who came back with textbook adhd symptoms because they'd just been forced to spend the best part of a year trapped in a high-rise flat in front of a device while the play-parks were chained up? The behavioural issues from that alone are enough to make ME want to start throwing chairs around. Three year wait on a dyslexia assessment for a child who literally cannot write the alphabet at 11 years old, with zero funding for resources like a laptop until after the assessment.

All of that and people are STILL banging on about air filters and masks and what if little Timmy misses a week of school twice a year? How the other half live indeed.

You seem to think people have attitudes like mine because we're thick or selfish or anti-vax or "refuse to see it" or "just don't want to accept it". Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, people have bigger fucking problems than a virus with a 0.00004% chance of killing their perfectly healthy child?

All come down to completely inadequate school funding to deal with any issue.

Because it's not a case of either/or and nor should it be. ALL problems should be adequately addressed and supported. The narrative that there isn't enough money and that we need to scrimp and save in education, or even in wider society, in order to use the funds in a firefighting manner is one borne from political choice.

Agreed 100%. But it's the political choice people keep voting for. It's been that way for 10 years now. Yes it would be really nice to have air filters in Fantasy Land but while we're all living on Tory Island in 2022, maybe it would be better to, like, I dunno... face reality? Just an idea!

Is this a zombie thread?! Hope so, as like going back to 2020. Not give covid a single thought since…. Genuinely can’t remember!

Well aren't you lucky then @Endlesslypatient82
Not had Covid since 2020, no CEV family members, no impact on your job or ability to do your job, no holidays cancelled...... must be lovely!

@remiss My school has all those issues and more - but I guess my expectations are just higher than yours. I want to actually teach children on top of that, you see, not give up, and yes, weeks of children off at a time and staff too affects that massively.

This thread is a good reminder that there are groups out there such as independent sage and the teaching unions for whom covid is all that matters and want to take us backwards by implementing restrictions.

These people have caused enormous harm as it is and cannot be allowed to have any further influence. They need to be roundly dismissed this winter when they start demanding lockdowns again.

Another example of an 'air purifier = closing schools' type comment.

@noblegiraffe

Air purifiers are a red herring. You could fit air purifiers in every classroom in the country and the lockdown fanatics would still demand more until schools are closed or effectively closed.

I’m not opposed to air purifiers in principle but they absolutely should not be a priority on which limited funds shouid be spent given all the other issues we’re facing atm.

Haven’t thought about this I am however dreading them going back to school as they seem to catch everything. With the exception of my little boy being poorly the last 2 days they have been so healthy these holidays!

Schools haven't been closed nationally in what, a year and a half?

They have closed individually partially or fully since then due to covid outbreaks and lack of staffing.

You'd have thought that those who bang on about lockdown fanatics desperate to close schools would be interested in measures that might help prevent these individual closures.

But of course not. There can be NO measures in schools, even ones that would simply sit in the classroom making the air cleaner. 🤷‍♀️

@noblegiraffe

So should spending money on air purifiers be prioritised over things like teaching staff or providing food to vulnerable families?

There is no magic money tree so those who want tens of billions spent on comfort blankets have to say what they would cut elsewhere or what taxes they would raise to pay for it.

There's never any money for anything to do with schools.

So why was your first response to this thread BEWARE THE LOCKDOWN FANATICS TRYING TO CLOSE SCHOOLS?

With the state of the economy I would be well cross of the government started spending money on unnecessary stuff like this.

Cost of living crisis people.

@noblegiraffe

Because, as I said, it’s not about air purifiers for the lockdown fanatics. What they want is measures like social distancing and masks to be permanent, and for regular lockdowns.

It was the same with the teaching unions- the measures they were advocating would have in fact meant schools closed for 2 years.

And is that more important than keeping kids as healthy as possible and schools open?

Parents that are already struggling will not want to have to homeschool for a few days if their child's class closes.

Staffing will be under even more pressure now school budgets will also be massively affected by the energy crisis.

How does it help the cost of living crisis with more people long term sick or having to reduce/give up work to look after others?

@LockAqua

Which teaching union ever wanted schools closed for 2 years? Or at all for that matter?

This.

we have had to keep some year groups (secondary) off at times due to the number of staff who were off ill.

i would love something which could keep students and staff healthier. I’m fed up of either having Covid or being surrounded by it, worrying about catching it (again), passing it on to my CV husband or dc in exam years.

If society wants people to work in schools it would be nice to consider their health surely.

@twinkletoesimnot

The measures teaching unions were calling for such as social distancing in schools would have meant schools closed to the vast majority of students for 2 years.

They were opposed to schools reopening and wanted them closed at every opportunity

Well this is utter balls.

Have people not got bored with claiming that anyone who wants schools to be slightly less covidy to in fact be closed? Apparently not.

Incidentally, all the teaching and head teaching unions wrote to James Cleverly at the start of the summer asking what the plans were for covid in schools this winter. This was their list:

Provide additional funding to schools to improve ventilation and support spiralling energy costs. Schools could use this to implement a programme of maintenance to improve natural ventilation by ensuring all windows can be opened and air vents are cleared, as well as consider other forms of ventilation where necessary. A study in Italy overseen by the Hume foundation in March this year found that efficient mechanical ventilation systems can reduce the transmission of Covid-19 in schools by more than 80%. The severe heatwave this week further highlights the importance of sufficient ventilation systems in schools.

• Provide HEPA air filtration devices to all schools for September as an immediate measure while schools improve their ventilation. The Department for Education’s data on the use of CO2 monitors and air cleaning units shows that only 1287 schools out of a total of 24,413 in England have been provided with air filters, and given schools have multiple classrooms, this is nowhere near sufficient.

• Re-establish funding for schools to cover supply costs for teaching and support staff absences in the autumn term. This has been a major additional expense for schools over the last two years, which they will be even less able to afford in the next academic year as school budgets are tightened further.

• Make lateral flow tests available for free to all staff and pupils in education settings as a key measure to reduce transmission and disruption to learning.

• Issue clear public health guidance on what the public should be doing to minimise the chance of infection. The absence of such clear messaging is extremely concerning.

• Run a public health messaging campaign on vaccination given the very low rates of childhood vaccination as recorded in the national flu and Covid-19 surveillance report.

• Publish updated guidance for schools on face coverings when dealing with increased Covid cases.

• Reinstate the need for Covid risk assessments, including for vulnerable workers and pregnant staff, to mitigate against further disruption and illness from the predicted winter wave of infections.

Can't see CLOSE SCHOOLS anywhere on that list.

What has actually closed schools in the last year and a half is not the teaching unions but covid.

@noblegiraffe

The unions opposed schools reopening in June 2020. They called for schools to be closed in September 2020. They called for schools to be closed in October 2020. They called for schools to be closed in December 2020.

They called for schools to be closed in January 2021. They were opposed to schools reopening in March 2021. They called to schools to be closed in December 2021.

I suspect I’ve missed some from they list. The idea that teaching unions were against closing schools is bollocks.