By Adam Carey
Victorian school staff who have not had a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine have been warned that they must do so by mid-March or face being shut out of their workplace and eventually having their employment terminated.
With most schools due to welcome students back for their first day in class on Monday, the Education Department has set a hard deadline of March 15 by which time all staff must get a booster shot or be barred from on-site working.
Retired teacher Robyn Kamer is keen to enter the pool of back-up school staff ready to step in for COVID-positive teachers in term one. Credit: Joe Armao
The booster deadline has been given as 374 inactive or retired teachers and principals enter a pool of stand-by staff for schools bracing for a potential teacher shortage if Omicron cases spike again after students return.
Robyn Kamer, 66, who retired in 2018 after 35 years in various roles at Dandenong High School, will return in term one to help plug potential gaps at the large multicultural school should other teachers be infected.
“I feel quite safe because I’ve had my booster,” she said. “I’m careful about it, but I’m not being paranoid. I’m keeping my distance, doing the right things, I believe the schools are putting all the protocols in place.”
Health experts are expecting a spike in children presenting at emergency departments with coronavirus symptoms, as infections rise after the start of term one.
Paediatrician Robert Booy predicted a rise as the virus spreads in schools, but said a broad range of safety measures, including regular rapid antigen testing and vaccination, would minimise risks.
“Younger children are very resilient and ... will not get COVID severely in any more than a handful of cases,” Professor Booy said.
Premier Daniel Andrews predicted on Sunday that term one would be challenging for schools “and messy in parts”, with an increase in positive cases in the community.
“But the benefits of having school back far outweigh those sorts of challenges,” he said.
The March 15 booster shot deadline applies to staff who received their second dose after October 25 last year. School guidance had previously given those staff a looser deadline of three months and two weeks from their second dose to get a booster.
Staff who received a second dose before October 25 have an earlier booster deadline of February 25.
School employees who fail to meet those deadlines will be placed on unauthorised leave and their employment will be terminated after April 28, the department said in advice to schools.
A government spokeswoman said all Victorian school staff were required to be double vaccinated by November 29 and more than 99.7 per cent of staff complied with this requirement.
“As students and staff return to school, we encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated to protect school communities and reduce learning disruption in 2022,” the spokeswoman said.
The government is working with the Department of Health on the small number of school staff who may not be eligible for a booster by March 15, for example, staff who were on maternity leave at the time of the double-dose requirement.
The Andrews government put out the call for qualified workers to join the pool of stand-by staff nine days ago.
Bec Spink, principal of Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill, said she had already been in contact with her regular casual relief teachers, including two who have retired.
Spensley Street Primary principal Bec Spink is worried about potentially exposing vulnerable retired teachers to the virus, even if it is their choice to return.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“I do have concerns though that this is putting one of the most vulnerable age groups back in schools where [the virus] could be spreading,” she said. “That kind of makes me nervous that we are doing that, even though that’s their choice and they want to work.”
But Ms Spink said she was pleased that her school had already received its allocation of air purifiers and rapid antigen tests, with most parents visiting the school late last week to collect their RATs. For the first four weeks of term, primary and secondary students and staff will be asked to test twice during a school week.
Ms Kamer said her decision to enter the pool of reactivated teachers was driven by a love of Dandenong High which has a diverse student population and a high proportion of children from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
Arguably, the 66-year-old former maths teacher never left. She has returned for periodic stints of casual relief teaching in the years since her retirement.
She has never wanted to teach at a more advantaged school.
“Multicultural students I just love because what you see is what you get; they’re so grateful for what you do for them,” Ms Kamer said.
Ms Kamer has had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and does not feel vulnerable to the virus, despite being in her mid-60s.
Retired and inactive teachers who join the government’s job opportunity pool for term one are required to have a valid Victorian Institute of Teaching registration. Ms Kamer said she knew a handful of former teachers who had deliberately let their registration lapse to avoid being asked back.
“They said, ‘I’m worried about COVID, I don’t want to renew,’ but I renewed.”
Victorian Principals Association president Andrew Dalgleish said school staff had been overwhelmingly compliant regarding the vaccine mandate.
School leaders were more concerned about the risk of a staff shortage if cases surge when schools return, he said, while many are also apprehensive about teachers being exempted from the requirement to isolate for seven days as a close contact.
“We’re now deemed critical workers, but if you’re a household contact and the only place you’re not expected to isolate is at work, that may not be greeted with a great deal of joy,” Mr Dalgleish said.
Meanwhile, more than nine in 10 Australian teachers say that they struggle to prepare effective lessons for their students as they juggle an ever-expanding workload.
New research by the Grattan Institute found 92 per cent of more than 5400 surveyed teachers believe they lack the time to prepare for their core teaching duties, including lesson planning, reviewing students’ work and supporting struggling learners.
The report found teachers could reclaim an average two hours a week if they were relieved of extracurricular work such as yard duty, debating and sports supervision, with responsibility handed over to specialist and support staff.
Dr Jordana Hunter, the institute’s education program director, said the findings were a “cry for help” from an exhausted workforce.
“Teachers should be able to get the core parts of their job done in a standard working week,” Dr Hunter said.
“We know at the moment in schools teachers are being asked to do a whole lot of things that don’t actually require teaching expertise, particularly around the supervision of extracurricular activities. We need to ask ourselves if that is the best use of teachers time?”
With Lisa Visentin, Rachel Eddie and Melissa Cunningham
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