The group representing primary school principals said teachers in special schools were working in close contact with students “equivalent to frontline health staff.”Speaking at the group’s online annual conference, Damian White, IPPN president, said all school staff should have been given Covid-19 vaccines as a “matter of priority”. The decision led to a backlash at the time from teaching unions, who had been promised school staff would be prioritised for inoculation. The IPPN had pushed for the introduction of an administration day for teaching principals, and it welcomed the Minister’s commitment to retain the measure post-Covid. Mr White said the extra substitute teacher cover had allowed schools to deal with high levels of staff Covid-19 absences. For primary school principals the year of the pandemic “has felt like a century,” he told the IPPN conference.

Source: The Irish Times May 07, 2021 12:23 UTC