A school in Co Wexford has had to close its classes to a number of students due to the ongoing school secretaries and caretakers strike.
Gorey Community School, the largest school in the country with 1,630 students, has limited attendance each day to a restricted number of year groups.
Classes were restricted to first, fifth and sixth years on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Other years were in attendance earlier in the week.
Plans to engage in online learning for the duration of the strike were cancelled, principal Michael Finn said, when he received clarification from the teachers’ unions that teachers were not permitted to engage in online learning.
RM Block
“The big thing really is health and safety,” Mr Finn said.
“Things can go wrong over the course of the day. We have three caretakers who are busy really from the moment they come in to the moment they leave.
“So you’re talking about issues in toilets, blocked toilets, drains - you’re talking about little electrical faults. You’re talking about the fact that we have a roof, which is getting replaced next summer, but that does leak.”
Mr Finn said he hoped they could increase the number of students attending school and added he was engaging with the boards and the Department of Education.
Teachers are putting work on Microsoft Teams for students “but it’s not the same as being taught”, Mr Finn said.
“The year groups at home today are second years and third years. With the best will in the world, they’re not going to self-motivate.”
Mr Finn said he needed to find some way forward.
“My big worry is that this strike isn’t going to go anywhere. There doesn’t appear to be any indication of any resolution - none whatsoever. We can’t go on for another month. I don’t even want to go on for another week.
“I can’t indefinitely keep certain youth groups at home. That just is completely unacceptable.”
Parent Sinead Fox has two children at the school. One child, a third-year student, has only been in school one day this week and is not expected to be at school again until next week. Her fifth-year student has missed four days of school.
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“It’s affecting everybody’s education. Then you’ve got families where kids … need to go to school on different days. The school canteen is shut because the school can’t deal with the waste," she said.
“I want the kids back to school. They need the routine. They’ve been off since the end of May.”
Ms Fox is fearful that their education will suffer in the short-term if the strike continues.
“The nice things about school are going to be cut,” she said, explaining she received an email outlining that planned dates for cinema trips, retreats and other activities would be cancelled to ensure the curriculum is covered.
