Seymour College parents call for urgent Covid-19 isolation rules overhaul amid ‘completely unfair’ effects on boarder families

A leading private school has described SA’s strict Covid-19 rules as “completely unfair” after 19 of its boarders were sent home – hundreds of kilometres away – to self-isolate.

Parents of school boarders are ramping up their calls for an overhaul of Covid-19 isolation rules, as dozens of students are sent home to properties across the state and beyond.

Seymour College this week asked the parents of Year 10 boarders to collect their children following a positive case, and 19 have left the property – some travelling home to places 650km away.

Fleur Finlayson said her husband Simon gave up a day’s work to drive from Kaniva, Victoria, to Adelaide to collect their daughter Kali so she could isolate for a week at home in a caravan.

“It’s such an upheaval – they’ve had two weeks of home learning, then two weeks back at school and they were just starting to get into the nitty-gritty part of the year,” Mrs Finlayson said.

“Then they can’t even be with their families.”

Some of the state’s boarding students have already had to isolate two or three times this school year due to strict rules.

Seymour College student Kali Finlayson is isolating at home in Kaniva, in a caravan. Picture: Fleur Finlayson

Seymour principal Vanessa Browning said the state’s close contact rules “significantly disadvantaged” boarding students and the effects on their families were “completely unfair”.

“Sending students home to isolate as close contacts, while their peers in the classroom can still attend school is damaging to the wellbeing and education of some our most vulnerable students,” she said.

“Locking off schooling to cohorts of remote students is an unacceptable and unworkable solution.

“It is disappointing that the government has ignored the pleas of boarding schools in SA to work closely with the experts in this field to design workable operating procedures for close contacts.”

Paula Gust from the Cross border Call Out group. Picture: Supplied

Paula Gust, who has advocated for border community members and boarding students throughout the pandemic, said parents were “fed up” with the harsh rules.

“Their education has already been disrupted enough. The Fringe is on, yet our girls are deemed to be in a high-risk setting,” the Seymour parent said.

Ms Gust said SA should follow other states’ lead and require boarders to do daily tests during an outbreak, instead of sending them home.

An SA Health spokeswoman said it was working with the Education Department and schools on strategies to support campuses and boarding houses to manage Covid-19 cases and close contacts.

“The advice for boarding schools includes the importance of schools having outbreak plans tailored to their sites, and recommends engaging parents to ensure plans align with the best interests of boarding students,” she said.

The spokeswoman said schools determined the process for isolating positive cases and close contacts, depending on facilities and arrangements with parents.

SHARP SPIKE

The state on Wednesday recorded a sharp spike of almost 500 cases, in the biggest rise in six weeks, but hospitalisation rates are stable.

Another two infectious men, in their 50s and 70s, have also died, SA Health reported.

SA Health reported 2075 daily cases, which is the biggest one day rise since Australia Day and compared with 1618 on Tuesday and 1358 on Monday.

On Wednesday, 111 patients were recovering in hospital, an increase of just one case in the past 24 hours.

The number of ICU patients is also stable at nine cases, while just one person is on a ventilator.

Authorities say daily infections will jump around but they are closely monitoring the rates of patients being admitted to hospital.
The Education Department has also reported at least 400 extra students in the past day reported absent for a Covid-related reason such as being infectious or being a close contact.

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