“We’d spent a lot of time getting the kids ready and primed,because particularly in very disadvantaged areas,it’s hard to convince the kids to be vaccinated,because they’re bombarded with misinformation from social media,” said one principal on the condition of anonymity.
“I’m not sure I’ll get many of them to go at all now. Our kids don’t travel far from home. They ride bikes,they don’t get trains,especially not that far.” Said another:“The result of this will be that lots of my students won’t get[the vaccine] at all.”
A third principal said students at their school won’t travel at the best of times,and said the decision showed a lack of understanding of disadvantaged communities. “The kids who are wavering will say,‘stuff that – it’s three hours on the train,it’ll take out the whole day’.”
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the bus plan was scrapped because it “became apparent” there was no certainty any staff would supervise the students on the buses. Teachers said they were never asked to supervise,and those that offered had been refused.
“The normal course for kids coming from schools is that teachers would supervise them and that wasn’t at all clear,” he said. Mr Hazzard said he believed PCYC staff and others were going to “back in” education staff,noting the PCYC and health workers would still be facilitating the running of the mass vaccination hub at Qudos.
He said it was this confusion,coupled with concern about transmission,which led the buses to be scrapped. “There was also obviously issues from a health perspective about whether or not it would have been the most desirable outcome to have students coming to school when they weren’t at school,and then leaving from school in a bus together,” he said.
“In the end it was decided that a lot of the kids,young people have their own licenses anyway and their mums and dads have indicated they will be more than happy to take them so it is just a reasonable way to do it.”
Some schools are concerned that the message won’t reach the students over the weekend. “They are emailing and phoning us last night and this morning saying they have booked for Monday morning and want to know when the bus leaves from school,” said one.
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The last-minute change comes after a frustrating 10 days for principals,after Ms Berejiklian announced all HSC students would return to school on August 16,then changed her mind more than a week later and said students in hotspots could not attend at all,and students in other areas of Sydney could go for no more than two hours and only in exceptional circumstances.
Craig Petersen,the head of the Secondary Principals Council,said principals will still do their best to encourage students to get the vaccination.
“We’re in a crisis,we can’t expect plans to always work to perfection,” he said. “In this case we’ve seen a last minute change to the plan. Principals will do everything in their power to communicate that to their communities,and above all we really encourage all our students who are eligible to get their vaccinations next week.”