Parents and students call for immediate end to supervision row

PARENTS and students have called for an immediate resolution to the supervision row which could throw the start of the school year into disarray.

With less than a week before many schools reopen, principals have warned that the current situation is unworkable.

The ASTI, representing secondary teachers at more than 600 schools, is still refusing to accept the 37-an-hour deal for supervision and substitution already accepted by the other two teaching unions, TUI and INTO.Without a deal, many schools will not be to reopen.

Michael O’Regan, president of the National Parents Council Post Primary, has called a meeting of his executive committee this weekend, where the issue will be top of the agenda.

“We had hoped this would be resolved by September but that just doesn’t look possible now. The last thing we want for students is more disruption, and more talks must take place,” he said.

Mr O’Regan said parents are sympathetic towards principals, who are stuck in the middle of this row trying to keep schools running.

The Congress of Catholic Secondary School Parent Associations said it is unacceptable that the new arrangement guarantees students will lose class contact hours again.

Spokesperson Barbara Johnston said the last three months should have been used to confirm teacher availability and Boards of Management should have been recruiting and training during these months.

A new permanent scheme has been agreed between the Department of Education and the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which will involve bringing in non-teachers at more than 450 schools staffed by ASTI members.

The scheme will replace the contingency plan which cost almost 18 million to pay supervisors 34 an hour in the last three months of the last school year. But Education Minister Noel Dempsey said schools are free to resume the arrangements they put in place last year, and phase in the new arrangements over the next number of months.

Daire Hickey, Union of Secondary Students spokesperson, said students are angry over further uncertainty after the Government failed to find a solution during the summer months.

“We also have the added uncertainty about college fees next year and many more Leaving Cert students will probably be pushed into part time work as a result, which will make their studies and their results suffer,” Mr Hickey said.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) will urge the ASTI in meetings next week to consider doing the supervision for the first two months until some agreement on a pay deal can be reached.

NAPD president Gerard Looney said they will also be seeking to clear things up on the new permanent supervision scheme when they meet with the Joint Managerial Body, representing school managers. There is some confusion on the directive that, allows supervisors work up to 20 hours a week but to earn only up to 370 in the same time.

“As it stands, it will be very difficult to offer full school services until we have had time to recruit, train and get garda clearance for supervisors. This could mean some schools having shorter days or phasing the intake of classes,” he said.

The ASTI’s 23-member standing committee will discuss the supervision and substitution issue at a meeting next week, but their position remains that they will not resume these duties until their overall pay claim is settled.

The meeting will also be their first opportunity to make a detailed response to the benchmarking report issued in June, a process which they have also chosen to remain outside.

Already, biology and home economics students for the 2004 Leaving Cert face a two-month delay in the introduction of revised sylabbi because of ASTI refusal to be trained in the new course material while their pay disupte remains unresolved.