Coronavirus: Split widens over school closures

Gladys Berejiklian plunged the NSW school system into a state of confusion, telling parents to keep kids home while schools remain open.

Gladys Berejiklian plunged the NSW school system into a state of confusion on Monday, telling parents to keep their children at home while schools remain open, a compromise deal struck with the Prime Minister during negotiations at a national cabinet meeting on Sunday night.

The Australian has learned the NSW Premier called for the national cabinet meeting to be brought forward from its scheduled Tuesday meeting and entered the telephone link-up with a plan to essentially shut down schools except those whose parents work in essential services. This position stood at odds with that of Scott Morrison, who walked into the meeting strongly in favour of keeping school arrangements unchanged.

By the end of the 2½-hour meeting a compromise had been reached: NSW schools would remain open, but advice would be imparted to parents that their children should stay home. The result essentially put NSW on the same footing as European school systems.

But the cryptic messaging of the Premier’s statements confounded parents.

Pressure intensified almost immediately, from teachers, principals, parents and the NSW Opposition Leader to clarify these unclear signals, with some calling for even stronger messaging that schools were essentially closed to the vast majority of students.

Victoria remains one of the few states to officially shut down its schools, having brought forward school holidays that were planned to start next week. In Queensland, teachers are threatening strike action against the Palaszczuk Labor government unless European-style shutdowns are enacted.

“Gladys was thinking more along the lines of (Victorian Premier) Daniel Andrews (but) they (the schools) still would have been open for the kids of emergency services workers, even if she closed them,” a government official said.

Confusion reigned on Sunday night when Ms Berejiklian issued a five-line statement ahead of the national cabinet meeting. The statement flagged a series of imminent school closures, but stopped short of saying it explicitly. “I will have more to say on this issue in the morning,” Ms Berejiklian said.

But by Monday her position had shifted to one where schools would remain open but, for “practical reasons”, children would be asked to stay home, a reference to a 30 per cent fall in attendance rates over the past week.

By Monday night, that attendance figure had increased to as high as 50 per cent, The Australian was told.

“For parents who have no option, the school is safe for children to attend. Schools will remain open. No child will be turned away from a school,” Ms Berejiklian said, in a statement intended to signal solidarity with Mr Morrison.

The response from teachers in NSW on Monday was uniformly critical of the Premier’s and the Prime Minister’s messaging.

The NSW Teachers Federation, the representative body for 67,000 casual, temporary and permanent teachers, was scathing of the Premier’s position.

“Decisions are being made by people who have no idea how schools and TAFE colleges function or what is happening inside of them. Teachers and principals have now been thrust on to the frontline of the crisis,” a federation statement said.

“The social distancing protocol of (4sq m) per person is impossible to implement in classrooms, corridors and most school playgrounds.”

Phil Seymour, head of the NSW Primary Principals Association, said parents were confused and “needed a more decisive statement” around whether schools would remain open only for the children of emergency services personnel.

Queensland’s powerful teachers union was scheduled to meet on Monday night to call on the Palaszczuk government to close state schools and TAFE colleges, or to at least implement precautionary measures for teachers.

QTU president Kevin Bates said the union had “lost confidence” in the government’s decision-making. Strike action is now looming in the state.

Victoria’s Mr Andrews said on Monday school closures were necessary to prepare for the months ahead.