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Canberra Today 22°/26° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Barr’s ‘calm’ approach to school confusion

PARENTS want answers around face-to-face schooling now, but the ACT government is taking a “calm” approach to making a decision, with Chief Minister Andrew Barr saying: “We will take our time.”

His comments come after the federal government’s medical advice, this afternoon (April 24), which confirmed social distancing requirements do not apply to classrooms, but Mr Barr said schooling will stay online for term 2 in Canberra.

Even though Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) found that students don’t need to abide by social distancing advice in the classrooms, Mr Barr said they will take their time to give parents the notice they need before they commence face-to-face learning again.

“For parents and students, you will know potentially weeks in advance of when changes will occur. No surprises, a clear, considered approach to how we go about the more normal resumption of face-to-face teaching over an extended period of time,” he said. 

And while Mr Barr, on many occasions, has said the ACT will align itself with what NSW does, he today said they will make “no overnight snap decisions because NSW has just announced something”.

The announcement from NSW, to reopen schools in some face-to-face capacity didn’t exactly happen overnight, and still, he says: “We will take our time.”

“And to repeat for parents, you’re not going to come home from work one day and find out that the next day that everyone is back to school,” said Mr Barr, even though most parents waiting for the recommencement of face-to-face learning are parents who are having to work from home, or stay home from work, to be with their children. 

Mr Barr flagged that the ACT government needed more time to make decisions around schools to ensure the safety of the adults in them. 

“Schools are safe for children but we need to go through the various protocols and processes in relation to adults,” he said. 

“We have to have in place appropriate guidelines for how adults in the school environment will interact with one another. So that means staff rooms, it means common areas in schools, the front office, all of those areas need to have appropriate COVID-safe work environments.

“It also relates to parents and how we manage the drop off and pick up from school. We can’t have large groups of people gathering around the entrance to schools. All of these things need to be considered. 

“The debate on schools is raging around the nation as it is in Canberra. We want to make sure it is safe for everyone, and that includes adults.” 

 

 

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