Their health and the safety of their families and community is on the line, but teachers across Lincolnshire face growing pressure to aid the recovery of the economy and reopen classrooms to thousands of school students on June 1.
This is juxtaposed with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s acknowledgement of the detrimental impact on pupil progress, as well as teacher-shaming headlines accusing opposers of “betraying Britain’s poorest kids.”
Michael Gove said the government would ensure safety in schools, but could not guarantee staff would not contract the virus during an interview with Andrew Marr on Sunday, May 17.
Schools in Wales will not reopen on June 1, while those in Scotland and Northern Ireland may not restart before the summer holidays.
Liverpool and Hartlepool councils have also taken the bold decision to keep authority-run schools closed, other than in the current capacity for key worker children and the most vulnerable.
In Lincolnshire, teachers spoke to The Lincolnite to assure parents they are desperate to return to work and to recover from lost learning, but many felt infection rates were not yet low enough, and their safety was being unnecessarily compromised.
“We want to go back to school and teach,” one local teacher, who asked not to be named, said. “Not doing what we love to do for this long is not only disheartening but detrimental to students and teachers alike.
“But when you as a parent or carer drop your child off at school, you leave them in loco parentis and the very minimum you expect is that they are safe and looked after.
“If you have a leaky tap, you call a plumber, if you have been burgled, you call the police, if you need help with a pandemic, you look to doctors, scientists and statisticians for help, not your personalised filtered newsfeed or politically swayed newspaper headline.
“Think about it; do you think it is safe to send children back to school in their hundreds when it’s still not safe to visit grandparents or to walk around a grocery shop without a person handing out disinfectant towels before you enter?”
If the level of infection remains low enough, nurseries, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 students would be the first to return.
Until this point, schools have operated for essential worker and vulnerable children, with skeleton staff, giving leaders an idea of how to implement social distancing.
Another teacher, who wished not to be named, told The Lincolnite: “It is impossible to ask children to remain two metres apart, as well as to ask staff to distance themselves from the children.
“I feel that Boris Johnson is rushing children back to schools despite the evidence that we are not ready for this stage yet. Nationally, there are still hundreds of deaths daily.
“Being a teacher myself, I am only too aware of the impact that this lost time will have on the children in terms of their learning, and perhaps more importantly their social, emotional and mental health, but it would be much safer to return after the summer holidays, when the virus is more under control and it is much safer to be around others.
“Losing an extra few weeks of learning can be fixed, but putting children and staff in unsafe conditions could have effects that cannot be fixed.
“At this stage, health should still be prioritised above education. It seems rushed and unnecessary, and feels like a compromise in favour of the economy, not our health.”
Parents and teachers have been conflicted over the risks. Many parents, concerned about the impact lockdown has had on their children’s mental health and learning progress, told reporters they are keen to seen their children back in class.
Ricky Hunter said: “As long as precautions are put in place and everything is safe, then the kids should go back to school. It’s not benefiting them being at home, they need professional teaching.
“My daughter starts secondary school in September and she needs preparing for secondary school. If it’s safe and all things are adhered to I’ll have absolutely no problem sending her back to school. My wife is a key worker and I’m self employed, so the news that I’m hearing about relaxing the laws is definitely making us feel positive about the situation.”
Local authorities, academy groups and other school leaders will be watching infection rates closely in the next couple of weeks. Parents will also have an important decision to make, particularly as the government has promised to suspend fines and attendance scrutiny.
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City of Lincoln Council has approved a 1.9% tax hike despite a series of cuts for 2021-22 due to the financial uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 1.9% rise will take city council’s share of council tax for a Band D property in Lincoln to £285.39 – an increase of £5.31.
The executive committee agreed on increasing allotment charges, council house and garage rents.
Council bosses predict a budget gap of £1.75 million and said it must close the hole for financial stability.
Allotment charges will also see most tenants pay between £58.70-£78.30 per year from 2022, an increase of between 38p and 51 pence per week.
Council housing rent will increase by an average of 1.5%, while council garage rents will increase by 3%.
Attendees at City of Lincoln Council’s executive on Monday.
The authority said it faces a number of ongoing challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and requires a substantial reduction in all of its budgets.
Cllr Ric Metcalfe, Leader of City of Lincoln Council said: “It’sareasonablymodestincreaseformostpeople,andwewill support lowincomegroups stillwiththeconcessions.”
The council has saved more than £9 million annually over the past decade, however will have to increase savings by £850,000 next year, rising to £1.75 million by 2023/24.
Due to the pandemic’s impact on government funded reliefs, empty properties and business closures, the authority estimates it will only retain £5.1 million of the £42 million of business rates generated in the city.
The draft budget will go to consultation and return before the council later this year for a final decision.
There have been 372 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 325 new cases in Lincolnshire, 30 in North Lincolnshire and 17 in North East Lincolnshire.
Some nine deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in North and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported nine new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust on Monday. Hospital deaths have now surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic started in Greater Lincolnshire.
National cases increased by 37,535 to 3,433,494, while deaths rose by 599 to 89,860.
Leader of South Holland District Council, Cllr Lord Gary Porter, put the spike down to outbreaks in two care facilities, one being a children’s care home.
A group of urban explorers who travelled from three different counties to look around derelict buildings were caught and fined in Grantham for breaching lockdown rules. Two groups of revellers in the woods near Woodhall Spa have also been fined.
In national news, Public Health England have confirmed 4,062,501 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Those in England aged 70 and over, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week.
Ten hospital trusts across England consistently reported having no spare adult critical care beds in the most recent figures available.
It comes as hospital waiting times, coronavirus admissions and patients requiring intensive care are rising.
All UK travel corridors, which allow arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine, have now closed until at least February 15.
Travellers arriving in the UK, whether by boat, train or plane, also have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to be allowed entry.
Supermarkets face increased inspections from local councils to ensure they are COVID-secure amid a push from the government to clamp down further on coronavirus transmission.
Local governments have been asked by ministers to target the largest supermarkets for inspection to ensure companies are enforcing mask wearing, social distancing and limits on shopper numbers.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to January 17 according to the government dashboard:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 11 to Jan 17. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, January 18
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
44,374 cases (up 372)
30,784 in Lincolnshire (up 325)
6,927 in North Lincolnshire (up 30)
6,663 in North East Lincolnshire (up 17)
1,686 deaths (up nine)
1,196 from Lincolnshire (up nine)
268 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
222 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,006 hospital deaths (up 10)
612 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)
30 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
363 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
3,433,494 UK cases, 89,860 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
Eight people were fined for two separate COVID-19 rule breaches over the weekend, after being found partying and camping near Woodhall Spa.
Officers were called to two different incidents at Ostler’s Plantation, a woodland area near Woodhall Spa on Saturday, January 16 and on Sunday, January 17.
Five people were issued with £200 fines after a report of partying at around 11.08pm on Saturday.
The next morning, police were again called to the area at 8.21am after people were seen camping at the location.
Three people were fined as a result of this, again valued at £200 due to being first time offenders.
If these fines are paid within 14 days of the offence, the cost will be cut in half to £100.
On the same weekend, but this time in a different location, six urban explorers were fined after travelling from three different counties to try and gain access to an abandoned hospital in Grantham.
The behaviour of COVID-19 rule breakers has been described as “dangerous” by Lincolnshire Police’s assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, who referred to them as “Covidiots”.