Is your school ready for Alert Level 3?
April 21, 2020 | 3 min read
An update from our education law experts for Principals, Board and School Leaders on key issues and recent legal events in your sector
Yesterday the Government announced that New Zealand will move to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Monday, 27 April 2020 and some schools will re-open for students on 29 April. This announcement raises a number of considerations for schools.
At Alert Level 3, educational facilities (and their employees and contractors) are essential services. Schools can be accessed from now for cleaning/readying the premises and can hold a teacher-only day on the 28th April. Schools will reopen on 29 April for Years 1 - 10 students, although only on a partial basis, with those students who can stay home being told they should do so. We expect the Secretary for Education will use her new broad powers under the Education Act 1989 (which apply to all schools, including independent schools) to direct this. If the direction involves anything materially different to the announcements that have been made, we will let you know.
For schools, we have prepared a checklist of important matters to consider ahead of the move to Alert Level 3:
| Checklist for Alert Level 3 | |
| Will all of your staff need to return to work, or are there some staff (such as office staff and teachers teaching students remotely) who could continue to do their job from home? If so, how would you fairly allocate staff to home or onsite duties? | No - not all staff need to return to work from school premises next week. We recommend considering both your operational needs and the personal circumstances of your staff when assessing this, for example, are any staff (or others in their ‘bubble’) at an increased health risk? Whether or not staff need to use public transport to travel to and from school may also be a relevant consideration. |
| Do you have a communications plan for staff, unions and parents/legal guardians ahead of Alert Level 3? | We recommend getting in touch with your employees, unions and parents/legal guardians now to discuss how you will manage re-opening your school. This should cover the proposed arrangements for your employees, advising them that parents/legal guardians must only return their children to school if it is necessary for them to do so and setting out, if not done already, how eLearning will be managed. eLearning and a return to school will be a busy time. You will want to engage with your parents/guardian community but we recommend you streamline that. Parents/guardians may have concerns or queries. Responding to everyone can take time, and the information is likely to benefit everyone. You should consider an online FAQ section, updated regularly, and suggest parents/guardians looks at this before contacting the school. |
| How will you deal with staff who do not wish to return to work (either because they are over 70 or immunocompromised, or for some other reason), including how those staff will be paid? | If an employee has a reasonable basis for not returning to work, you should consider how to best continue to pay that employee (some independent schools may be eligible for the essential worker leave payment to assist with this). If an employee does not have a reasonable basis for refusing to return to work and you need them to be on-site, we recommend engaging with the employee (and/or their union) to understand their concerns, to seek to alleviate those concerns and to explore options (including giving an instruction to return to work). However, if a reasonable resolution cannot be reached, it may be open to the school to escalate matters and we could advise on individual circumstances. |
| Prepare a plan for complying with the Alert Level 3 requirements
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We recommend preparing a plan for complying with the Alert Level 3 requirements that addresses health and safety under Alert Level 3, public health requirements, social distancing (including how you will limit students to ‘school bubbles’ of up to 10 in a group), tracking who attends the school each day, and cleaning. The Government has confirmed that cleaners and maintenance workers may access schools this week to perform services. We recommend that schools engage with their cleaners and other maintenance workers now to arrange for them to perform services (including thorough cleaning and sanitising) ahead of the return of students and staff, and on an ongoing basis. Watch out for the MBIE accreditation plan requirements that are to be announced next week, which we understand will require you to have a worksite plan for workers and others. Once released, we will let you know what it means for you. |
| How will you deal with any students, teachers or caregivers who wish to attend school in a manner that could breach Government guidelines (for example, after being in contact with someone with Covid-19)? | The school should explain what is required and ask the person to remain away from school for the appropriate period. However, if the person refuses to stay away, Police should be contacted. A trespass notice could also be served on them if required. |
| If your school has boarders, how will Alert Level 3 apply to them? | The Secretary for Education’s powers extend to boarding hostels. However, the Government is currently silent on what Alert Level 3 will mean for boarders (including those who are currently isolating within and outside of the school). We will let you know if any information is released about boarders, but until then, the cautious approach would be for boarders to stay home. |
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Please get in touch with any of our contacts to discuss any of the issues above in more detail.
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