Kylie Lang: Parents have a right to fume as Premier makes erratic calls over schools

Parents and teachers have a right to be fuming as an overreacting Premier’s snap changes of mind on schools wreak havoc once again, writes Kylie Lang. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Floodwaters aren’t all that is running high – so are parents’ tempers.

Does Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk have any idea what her snap changes of mind are doing to mums, dads, carers and any other poor sod roped into dropping everything to pick up children early?

Obviously not, or she just doesn’t care and/or is getting awful advice from her army of staffers.

The sky is bluer and more cloud free than it was at noon today when Ms Palaszczuk panicked and ordered people to urgently collect their kids from school.

A massive over-reaction is what many people are calling it, including those fuming at being stuck in hours of traffic when the usual 3pm pick up would have been just fine, like the sky above us right now.

On the back of homeschooling mandates at the 11th hour, this last edict is just too much for many.

Who could forget on Monday lunchtime the Premier telling people the Tuesday opening of schools would be a local decision? Certainly not parents, who breathed a sigh of homeschooling relief, only to have that ruling overturned on Monday evening.

Cue mad panic to adjust schedules of already stressed out families.

Then today, Ms Palaszczuk announced kids needed to be collected at once – more scrambling dumped on families – then updated the order to students from northern Moreton Bay to Bundaberg.

While most would appreciate that these are unpredictable times, and caution is desirable, I can understand why adults responsible for children – including teachers – are fed up with the chopping and changing.

We’re told of fears a supercell storm will form across today, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning wild storms bringing flash flooding will ramp up on Thursday afternoon bringing possible 125km/h winds and giant 5cm hail.

So far so good, at least from where I’m sitting in my office at Bowen Hills.

What unfolds in the next few hours remains to be seen, but it’s already 4.30pm and the heavens don’t look like opening up anytime soon.

But at least the kids are home safe and sound – well, and I mean well, in advance of any further horrendous weather activity.

Originally published as Kylie Lang: Parents have a right to fume as Premier makes erratic calls over schools