Background

Over the last 1.5 years, Scoil Maelruain Senior and its staff have carefully and thoughtfully introduced several safety policies for protection against the spread of Covid which to date has kept our children safe.

On November 30th, the Government of Ireland announced it would be recommending the wearing of masks or face coverings on children in 3rd to 6th class.

Later that day, the Department of Education announced that these recommendations should be enforced and any child not wearing a mask should be sent home. Unless they could provide a medical exemption signed by their doctor.

On December 1st, a number of GPs publically announce they do not have the capacity to deal with the request by the Department of Education.

Later that morning, Scoil Maelruain Senior forwarded a message from their Board of Management to say the introduction of forced face coverings or masks would not be introduced until the following Monday, December 6th.

Our Request

We, the signed parents of children attending Scoil Maelruain Senior do not believe forcing children to wear masks or face coverings is a necessary step and are calling on the Board of Management to take the following steps:

1: Staff facilitate the wearing of masks or face coverings for children who choose to do so.

2: Staff do not force or pressure any children who do not choose to wear a mask or face covering to do so.

3: The Board of Management meets before December 6th to discuss, confirm and communicate this decision.

In summary: We request that the Board does not adopt the Government recommendations and instead promotes the optional wearing of masks or face coverings.

Ending

We the signed parents also want to thank the Board and Staff of Scoil Maelruain Senior for their exceptional work during the course of this pandemic to both educate our children and keep them safe.