Toowoomba boarding schools unite over border issue
NINE Darling Downs schools have come together in a show of unity for what they label unfair border restrictions on their boarding students.
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NINE Darling Downs schools have come together in a show of unity for what they label unfair border restrictions on their boarding students.
The heads of Fairholme College, Toowoomba Anglican School, Concordia Lutheran College, Toowoomba Grammar School, Downlands College, St Ursula's College, Scots PGC College, St Saviour's College and The Glennie School have all signed a letter to Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young calling for changes on what boarding school students, especially from northern New South Wales where there are no COVID-19 cases, need to do when coming back into Queensland.
At the moment, if students were to go home for the school holidays, they would have to spend two weeks in quarantine when returning to the school, whether alone in their boarding room or in a hotel with their parents.
Parents would also need to quarantine if picking their kids up from school, for any reason, unless granted an individual exemption from the Chief Health Officer.
Toowoomba Anglican School head Simon Lees said there was a "great deal of stress and anxiety" among some of the boarding students
"Some children may not see their parents for many months, and that's a great concern," he said.
"We all understand that (the Government) is trying to maintain the health of the state, but the real challenge here is we now have children, who attend our schools, and their parents are stuck on the other side of the state border."
He said it wasn't in the child's best interest to have to quarantine when returning to school after spending time at home in New South Wales.
"The last thing we would really want to be doing is putting a 12-year-old student in a room on their own for two weeks," he said.
"It's just not healthy. It's not a supportive mechanism
"It doesn't matter how good the boarding school is, it's not a good position for a young child to be in."
St Ursula's Tanya Appleby said the situation needed to be sorted quickly, so there also weren't students stuck in boarding houses over the school holidays.
"They need to be at home and with their families," she said.
"We don't want to have a situation where they're stuck in a boarding house (during the school holidays)."
Fairholme principal Dr Linda Evans, who started this campaign two weeks ago when she wrote a letter to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, said some parents were questioning whether to send their children to schools in New South Wales instead.
"Families are anxious and concerned about how long this will go on for," she said.
"They're asking is this a tenable way for education to happen."
Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio yesterday echoed the calls of the principals.
"We have to make sure we get this right … we've got to get this sorted," he said.
School principals and local politicians will again meet on Friday, in a meeting hosted by The Glennie School, to discuss their next steps.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young this morning told media in Brisbane she was going to meet with boarding school representatives later this week, though did not announce any changes to the current system.
"It's up to each individual child and what is best for that child and best for that school community," Dr Young said.
A Queensland Health spokeswoman told The Chronicle the department "appreciated the challenges facing boarding school students and their families during this unprecedented time".
"Queensland's health and economy can't afford a second wave - that's why we closed the border to New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria," the spokeswoman said.
"Exemptions to the Border Restrictions Direction are limited and issued only in exceptional circumstances.
"These are difficult decisions, however these restrictions are in place for the protections of all Queenslanders.
"The pandemic is a rapidly evolving situation and border restrictions and health advice are subject to change."
