Schools 'may be forced to close'
THE PRINCIPALS of Kerry's largest secondary schools have joined forces to fight government education cuts, which they claim could prevent many schools reopening fully after the Christmas holidays.
On Monday principals and parents council members from secondary schools in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel, Castleisland, Kenmare and Tarbert met in Tralee to discuss the impact of the cuts on schools' supervision budgets.
They say a €30m cut in the supervision and teacher substitution budget, which comes into effect on January 1, could mean hundreds of students would be unsupervised if teachers were absent because of sudden illnesses. This situation could force schools to close.
Monday's meeting was organised by education union's umbrella group the Post Primary Education Forum (PPEF) ahead of a major protest in Dublin this Saturday.
At the gathering, principals from some of Kerry's largest schools expressed grave doubts about their ability to keep their schools open come January.
If schools cannot pay for supervision it could force cashstrapped schools to abandon all extra curricular activities and, in the worst case scenario, cut out entire subjects.
Principal of Kenmare's Pobailscoil Inbhear Scéine Dermot Healy said the situation has become extremely serious and there is little time to resolve it.
"We're due to close on December 23 and at the moment we're looking at opening in January without any contingencies in place to cover absent teachers," he said.
"If we're forced to use our own resources, for example moneys put aside for electricity or heating, we'd all be broke by February," he said.
"A lot of parents don't realise how serious this situation is. We don't know how we'll manage our schools in January. The minister says it can be done. We want to know how?" said Mr Healy.
Listowel Community College Principal Sean McCarthy told the meeting the cuts would have a devastating impact on students.
- SIMON BROUDER sbrouder@kerryman.ie
