Handling a pandemic: how have primary schools coped?

Principles say they are over-worked and under-resourced and that Covid-19 has made the situation even worse. File Picture.

What has it been like to lead a primary school through a pandemic, and what supports are really needed to help keep schools open? 

The Irish Examiner asked eight principals of different primary schools around the country about their experience of the term so far.

Each is a member of the National Principals Forum, a group of more than 1,200 practicing primary school principals set up in 2018. Its latest survey of members includes some stark findings. Of 530 schools, one in four said they’ve dealt with a positive Covid case since the beginning of term. Almost half (48.3%) said they had to wait two or more days between getting the original notification of the case and being contacted by public health. More than 15% said they were waiting longer than a week.

Even before September, principals were exhausted, according to Kenneth McCarthy, the principal of Kilmeen NS, just outside of Clonakilty. 

The day before I returned to school at the end of summer, after everything we went through in July and August, all the paperwork, meeting plumbers, meeting engineers, just to get the school safe and ready, I nearly had a nervous breakdown. That’s no shape for anyone to be in, never mind before they return to run a school during a pandemic.

Trust built up by principals between parents and within staff rooms, is in danger of breaking down, according to Angela Power, the principal of St Oliver Plunkett NS, in Dublin. 

“Children, themselves, are very happy, and we're very glad to be able to open the schools. But we want to be able to trust the system that's out there to support us so that if we have a suspect Covid case, we want to know that the rest of the children and the school community are safe as well. We're not just running schools, we're running workplaces.” 

There could be a situation where a pod is sent home from a class, and a principal is not supposed to tell their teacher why, she added. 

“That’s adding to a lot of stress and a lot of worry." 

Angela Dunne is the principal of Loughmore National School in Tipperary. 

“Since March, principals have been on the back foot constantly with regards to communication,” she told the Irish Examiner.

“All we're asking for is that communication would come directly to principals, not on a Friday evening at half six, which was the standard practice across lockdown, or that we would hear things in the media first. We also need HSE to fast track their testing and to have better communication with schools." 

Hidden crisis 

There’s been a hidden crisis in terms of school leadership for a while, she believes, that is being exacerbated by Covid. One release day per week was given to teaching principals to help cope with the pandemic. 

“We were looking for that for the last 10 years as the minimum that would come by means of support.”

Close contacts and how they are being defined in schools is also a worry. That's according to Mairéad Curran, principal of St Joseph's National School in Castlemaine, Co Kerry. 

"I think the idea of six children sitting in a pod within a bubble in a classroom is a lovely idea. When you think about it from an adult’s perspective, everybody’s sitting in their seats and those six children are staying together at all times but that’s far from the reality on the ground. In particular, in schools where we have children with additional needs in classes, they're moving around a lot more. I just feel that's being missed by the adults who aren't actually sitting in a classroom and seeing what's happening on the ground." 

Eileen Byrne, principal of Brittas Bay in County Wicklow, agrees. 

"I think that if there is a positive case in the school, the board of management and the principal should be given greater autonomy to deal with the situation themselves. Because we know our children, we know our parents, we know their families, and we are able to take all that into consideration." 

Meetings took place this week between the Department of Education, the HSE, and the education unions. The HSE has since agreed to provide improved weekly data on the number of Covid-19 tests carried out in schools, and on the number of cases detected amongst school staff.

Enhanced support for schools is to be put in place after mid-term, with staff from the Department of Education to be assigned to the HSE to help its dedicated school teams.

"Why was [that system] not in place before September," said Alan Kelly, principal of Scoil Mhuire Naofa, Carrigallen, in Co Leitrim. 

I can't comprehend how no one foresaw that when a million children went back to school, there was going to be a massive increase in testing and tracing. You'd have to hope that things are going to be better than they have been. It's for the pupils at the end of the day, and their families and the extended communities.

Fast-track testing needs to be made a priority, according to Simon Lewis, principal of Carlow Educate Together. 

“I think if we really want to keep schools open, it's all about proper testing. If we don’t trace cases quickly and widely, and never mind just the pods and instead test a whole class, it makes more sense when it comes to keeping schools open. I think what we probably need as well is that we’re recognised now as frontline workers, so we should be treated as such.”

Staff shortages

Seamus O'Connor, principal of Scoil Bhride in Crosshaven, Cork, agrees. At the beginning of October, the school was forced to shut temporarily due to staffing shortages caused by Covid-19. 

“I believe that every school in the country should be allocated an additional staff member at this stage. That way the school is covered if a staff member has to isolate or stay out if they have symptoms.”

“There are a number of schools who are short Special Needs Assistants (SNAs), and in some schools, they’ve lost staff because they are one or two short. All of that needs to be reviewed. Whatever schools need from a staffing perspective, that should be provided even just to get us out of this emergency period. You can’t underestimate the pressure schools are under at the moment. We are aware we are the last line of defence for the Irish economy at this point. When the medical field was the last line of defence earlier in the year and they did a tremendous job, the doors swung open for them, and rightly so. The same needs to be done for education.”

This article was updated on November 2.