This is what we (parents) took away from the directorate email we received from Katy Haire (Directorate General):

01. that there is to be broadly no change from last years school and directorate actions suggesting the department have learnt nothing about adapting to the pandemic.

02. that millions of dollars were spent obtaining RATs that we all know are inaccurate and the devised process will encourage fraud and hoarding. This solution essentially amounts to nothing more than a very expensive cuddly security blanket and is frankly insulting.

03. that the countless months wasted not preparing, could have prepared for 2022 and in 2021 by installing HEPA filters and C02 monitors in schools and providing decent N95 masks to all students and staff. This would be of far greater benefit than providing a single RAT.

04. that the action of cleaning surfaces, for an airborne pathogen, as something significantly beneficial. This doesn’t pass the most basic scientific scrutiny. You may as well have people go out front and paint driveway rocks white.

05. that by simply repeating “covid safe” you believe you have actually done something effective.

06. cohorting is provided as a solution when everyone knows it is something that cannot actually be achieved; most schools have shared hallways, building and toilets between all year levels. In fact, find me a school that doesn’t.

07. dept didn’t announce a hybrid schooling plan being available for, as yet, unvaccinated children. Parents will have to seek this out and hope they have a responsive school.

08. exposure requirements were diluted by simply shifting the goal posts (exposure time and place). I’m sure the virus will take note.

09. that preventing parents from attending school functions, given all the above, will somehow make a substantial difference.

10. absence of creative thinking toward finding a schooling solution that could have seen children both at home and at school to achieve the best learning outcomes and socialisation.

11. that it took the department and politica this long to come up with this “plan” and to announce this plan just before a term start is frankly appalling and unethical. It caused undue stress for families during the holiday period and I suspect no less for teachers.

I have no doubt that a future review of the current ACT government’s handling of schooling during the pandemic will be unfavourable, especially with the risk of long covid cases manifest in children in the coming years. As such, ACT labor’s handling of the pandemic have now placed themselves on the same list of infamy as shared with Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet. The only difference being the Dom and Scotty arrived at their decision through dumb-witted ideology and ACT labor through bureaucratic ineptitude.

The Vogons would be proud and the Vogon Slapsticks have been evidently busy over at the Directorate HQ.