THE state government is facing a parental backlash over its student-free day tomorrow, with concerns about children being left home alone or parents forced to take the day off work. Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff has defended his decision to call a student-free day because of planned strike action by teachers, citing student safety concerns. He said 136 schools – out of a possible 203 state schools – told the Education Department that they were unable to provide adequate supervision to students during the action. Yet some parents have condemned the government’s move as a political stunt. Prospect High School Association member Maxine Burr said she was unhappy that her high school-aged children would lose a day of learning, and saw the loss of a preplanned professional learning day next year to be detrimental to teachers and students. Former Bracknell Primary School Association member Angela Cresswell said the government was trying to make the teachers look bad for taking strike action. ‘‘There is a lot of cynicism out there about whether they are trying to make the teachers look bad,’’ Mrs Cresswell said. Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations president Jenny Eddington said parents were increasingly angry about the lack of action by the government. ‘‘It was the government who walked away from [pay] negotiations and they have to revisit, they can’t just continue this way,’’ she said. Mrs Burr, who is also a child educator, said the short notice of the student-free day had caused a mad panic in some parents who scrambled to find childcare. ‘‘The union only organised a two-hour strike so I’m very confused as to why the government made this all-day decision,’’ Mrs Burr said. ‘‘There was not enough warning for childcare educators to make vacancies for children, then you have parents who are going to be taking time off work to care for children, and I know of a couple of families with older children who will be left at home alone all day.’’ Mr Rockliff said advice regarding the strike action was received on Monday. ‘‘A decision was made that afternoon after due consideration to ensure student safety, especially given the inability to provide bus services to get students safely to schools at a later time,’’ he said. ‘‘I am extremely disappointed that the Australian Education Union continues to make our children and parents pay for their refusal to accept our sensible pay freeze offer.’’ Australian Education Union president Terry Polglase said closing schools during stopwork meetings was an unprecedented government action. ‘‘Are parents now going to expect that the Tasmanian government will close all schools for a full day every time a stopwork meeting is held to discuss what needs to be done to ensure students enrolled in public education are not further disadvantaged?’’ he said. Labor education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said Mr Rockliff’s attack on the Australian Education Union distracted from the real issues. ‘‘Schools had contingencies in place for students who needed to be dropped off prior to 10.30am,’’ Ms O’Byrne said. ‘‘A two-hour inconvenience is now a whole day of disruption.’’ Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Maree Tetlow said it was likely that some disruption to businesses and their employees would be caused because of the strike action and student free day.
Mazine Burr, of prospect, with her children Luke and Lydia, both 14, is angry that the government has made tomorrow a student-free day. Picture: Geoff Robson
THE state government is facing a parental backlash over its student-free day tomorrow, with concerns about children being left home alone or parents forced to take the day off work.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff has defended his decision to call a student-free day because of planned strike action by teachers, citing student safety concerns.
He said 136 schools – out of a possible 203 state schools – told the Education Department that they were unable to provide adequate supervision to students during the action.
Yet some parents have condemned the government’s move as a political stunt.
Prospect High School Association member Maxine Burr said she was unhappy that her high school-aged children would lose a day of learning, and saw the loss of a preplanned professional learning day next year to be detrimental to teachers and students.
Former Bracknell Primary School Association member Angela Cresswell said the government was trying to make the teachers look bad for taking strike action.
‘‘There is a lot of cynicism out there about whether they are trying to make the teachers look bad,’’ Mrs Cresswell said.
Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations president Jenny Eddington said parents were increasingly angry about the lack of action by the government.
‘‘It was the government who walked away from [pay] negotiations and they have to revisit, they can’t just continue this way,’’ she said.
Mrs Burr, who is also a child educator, said the short notice of the student-free day had caused a mad panic in some parents who scrambled to find childcare.
‘‘The union only organised a two-hour strike so I’m very confused as to why the government made this all-day decision,’’ Mrs Burr said.
‘‘There was not enough warning for childcare educators to make vacancies for children, then you have parents who are going to be taking time off work to care for children, and I know of a couple of families with older children who will be left at home alone all day.’’
Mr Rockliff said advice regarding the strike action was received on Monday.
‘‘A decision was made that afternoon after due consideration to ensure student safety, especially given the inability to provide bus services to get students safely to schools at a later time,’’ he said.
‘‘I am extremely disappointed that the Australian Education Union continues to make our children and parents pay for their refusal to accept our sensible pay freeze offer.’’
Australian Education Union president Terry Polglase said closing schools during stopwork meetings was an unprecedented government action.
‘‘Are parents now going to expect that the Tasmanian government will close all schools for a full day every time a stopwork meeting is held to discuss what needs to be done to ensure students enrolled in public education are not further disadvantaged?’’ he said.
Labor education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said Mr Rockliff’s attack on the Australian Education Union distracted from the real issues.
‘‘Schools had contingencies in place for students who needed to be dropped off prior to 10.30am,’’ Ms O’Byrne said.
‘‘A two-hour inconvenience is now a whole day of disruption.’’
Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Maree Tetlow said it was likely that some disruption to businesses and their employees would be caused because of the strike action and student free day.
