School managers object to cuts

An umbrella organisation representing the country’s primary school boards of management has claimed cuts proposed under Croke Park II will have a “high and long-lasting cost” on children’s education.

In a move which has angered the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, the Catholic Primary School Management Association has written to the country’s 3,200 primary school boards outlining its objections to the cuts.

It claims that boards of management “will not be in a position to deliver an appropriate education to pupils” and schools will also face “significant health and safety issues”.

CPSMA said it is clear from what has emerged in terms of recommended proposals from the Labour Relations Commission that “the voice of management has not been heard”.

The body focuses on two areas in particular — substitution cover and redeployment panels.

On substitution, it said pupils will find themselves without a teacher for “a very significant number of days”, and have additional pupils in their class on other days, as a result of plans to stop schools being allowed to employ a substitute in certain cases.

It also said a mooted redeployment panel for special needs assistants was a “retrograde step”.

The INTO described the letter as a “gross interference in a pay negotiation process where the CPSMA does not have a role”.

“The letter makes widespread and generalised comments about the quality of education which have not been substantiated anywhere which are gratuitous and offensive to teachers working in schools every day,” said an INTO spokesperson.