Hundreds of teachers sidelined by Covid as Department rejects union call for unmasked students to be evicted

Hundreds of teaching staff have already been sidelined by Covid just days after school term started – and a push to kick unmasked students out of class has been rejected.

A call on teachers to evict secondary students from the classroom if they refuse to wear a mask has been firmly rejected by the Education Department, as figures show hundreds of teachers have already been affected by Covid.

The call was made by the Australian Education Union SA to its members on Thursday.

The union also said teachers should provide rapid antigen tests to students with Covid-19 symptoms.

However, a contrasting message was sent to all staff by chief executive Rick Persse.

“To be clear, the AEU does not set policy for the Department for Education nor issue instructions to our staff,” Mr Persse said.

Mr Persse said the AEU advice was “unnecessary and confusing”.

“Some of these ‘recommendations’ are directly contradictory to policy set and guidance provided by the Department for Education, additionally they do not align with the advice of SA Health and our chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier,” he said.

Education Department chief executive Rick Persse.

AEU SA president Andrew Gohl.

The stoush came as Mr Persse told parliament’s Covid-19 response committee on Thursday that about 150 teachers and about 150 support staff were absent with the virus or as a close contact or due to caring duties. But on Friday morning, he updated that figure to about 200 teachers and about 173 support staff absent.

Mr Persse said that was a rate similar to the general population and was probably due to high rates of community transition just before school returned.

“Because this is the start of the year we’re capturing data almost back to 10, 14 days. This isn’t a daily infecion rate,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.

Opposition education spokesman Blair Boyer said the high level of absenteeism was “concerning” and the result of poor planning.

Also on Thursday, SA Health reported a woman aged over 100 died with Covid-19.

There were 1583 new cases and 226 people in hospital, of whom 18 were in ICU, including five on ventilators.

Under new school rules, all adults and secondary students are required to wear masks indoors and masks are recommended for primary students from year 3 upwards.

Mr Persse said if a student refused, teachers should use “the least exclusionary methods to prevent, reduce or redirect” the bad behaviour.

“A student should not be removed from the class,” he said.

Australian Education Union SA president Andrew Gohl said the call was based on member concerns.

The AEU’s SA branch said teacher’s needed to have the power to kick out students who would not wear mask. Picture: Stock

“If one student refuses to wear a mask and the teacher has no power over that, it puts other students and the teacher at risk,” he said

“And it gives every other student licence to take their mask off.”

The rules say a teacher who is a “classroom contact” of a Covid-19 case will be given seven RATs by the school for daily testing.

But RATs will only be provided to students who are one-to-one contacts with a support officer or teacher when masks were not worn.

Mr Persse said if a student showed symptoms, their parent should be told to take the child home.

“They should also be encouraged to get a PCR test ASAP,” Mr Persse said.

Mr Gohl said the union was merely trying to insist workplaces were safe. The union last week voted for a strike then called it off.

Mr Gohl said progress was being made in talks and an agreement reached on the definition of a vulnerable worker.