Do you miss teachers? Let the cooks replace them, advise the hygiene schools

At the primary school in Sloupnice, halfway between Litomyšl and Ústí nad Orlicí, they try in vain to glue holes in the schedule. Four out of six teachers are missing in the first grade due to the covid. There are several quarantined classes and other faculty members are missing.

“We called for hygiene to ask if it is possible to consider closing the school. And we have been informed that the hygiene of the school is not closing at the moment. Respectively, this is said to be out of the question as long as we have employees, such as cooks or cleaners, who can only watch in the classrooms, for example, ”says Václav Sychra, director of Sloupnice Elementary School. At the same time, however, he understands that the staff at the hygienic stations only follow the regulations of the Ministry of Health.

Chief Hygienist Jarmila Rážová stated that the school should be closed if 30 percent of teachers and pupils became ill or quarantined. Even if only teachers are missing, the regional hygiene station must intervene in consultation with the director. After all, such rules also applied to other epidemics, such as influenza

But this is really only rarely the case. They also checked it at the Hudcov Elementary School in Brno. Even on Wednesday, they had 17 classes out of a total of 25 quarantined, they had to do without a fifth of teachers and half of the educators were also missing.

“I dealt with hygiene that I would like to close the school, but they told me that it doesn’t work, “describes the school’s director Jakub Cimala. They have the same experience at the Prostějov Elementary School. Horák, where they tried to negotiate the closure of the second stage. But just as unsuccessful.

The government came up with a solution

In order for principals to be able to at least partially replace the decisions of sanitation stations when, for example, a large number of teachers are in quarantine or in isolation, the government has proposed an extraordinary director’s leave of up to ten days.

“The principal may first activate distance learning and, if it is not managed, a director’s leave will be ordered. It’s efficient, fast, responsive to local conditions and schools don’t shut down. And it is a matter of a maximum of ten days, then the hygienic station or we as the government must react, “said Minister of Education Petr Gazdík (STAN) in the program I am asking .

Although the directors generally welcome this step, it also means that they will have a “hygiene” agenda again.

“This is another responsibility that falls on the director. In addition, when you declare director’s leave, parents are not entitled to nursing allowance, so it is important that they manage to resolve this with the proposal as well, ”adds Cimala. According to the Minister of Education, the new institute of extraordinary distance education or leave should be associated with nursing care.

Nursing, whether in the amount of crisis or classic, it is now dealt with by the government. I will probably disappoint, I will be satisfied with the fact that it will be a classic nursing, “added Gazdík. Thanks to the crisis option, employees are entitled to 80 percent of the income base, according to the classic nursing 60 percent.

Close only when no one has guard

However, the parliament will only be dealing with the adjustment, albeit in an accelerated mode. But Omikron is not waiting. Director of the Prague Grammar School prof. Jana Patočka Jana Drake therefore had to start an “ordinary” director’s day.

“We were already in such a staff need that substitution was not effective. So, in agreement with the founder, I announced a director’s leave from Wednesday to Friday. “

) Covid-19 also appeared in all classes. In some, only eight or nine students remained. Of course, the principal also dealt with the epidemic situation at the school with hygiene. However, she received information that it is only possible to close school if 30 percent of the pupils are ill. However, the grammar school did not meet this condition

On the other hand, in the Ústí nad Labem region, some schools are expected to close. Lenka Šimůnková, director of the regional hygiene station, told ČTK

They are whole classes, schools will be closed somewhere, due to the fact that, for example, more than half of the teaching staff of 50 people are ill, and so it is in the classrooms, “added Šimůnková.

And some schools did close on Wednesday. This applies, for example, to the Ostrovní primary school in Štětí in the Litoměřice region, where hygienists have already acknowledged that no other option is possible. The school has only 6 teachers out of 23. Almost half of the pupils ended up in quarantine or isolation – 155 out of a total of 329.

“Omikron really lay down on us. The cleaners in the classrooms had to be supervised, and it really wasn’t sustainable or meaningful, “Ilona Stieranková, Deputy Director, returns to the beginning of the week.

At the same time, it can be assumed that the number of schools that find themselves in a similar unsolvable situation as the Ostrovní primary school will increase. However, the procedure of regional hygienic stations remains very inconsistent. Minister of Education Gazdík said on Twitter that he would address this issue.