By Eleanor Wilson
Saint Francis Xavier College in Berwick was eerily quiet this morning after staff shortages forced the entire campus to return to online learning for a short period.
The school’s principal, Vincent Feeney confirmed to Star News that the Berwick campus will switch to remote learning as of Friday 20 May, with on-site classes recommencing on Wednesday 25 May.
He said staff and students across the three campuses had been impacted by “illness”, however the Berwick campus had been particularly impacted.
The College’s other two campuses, in Beaconsfield and Officer will continue on-site learning throughout the period.
“The College has a very successful remote learning model developed over the past two years during the pandemic,” Mr Feeney said.
“However, our College views remote learning as a last resort response and has established a process for all students and families, particularly those who require support and student welfare.
“Any return to online learning will be for the briefest period possible.”
Parents of the school voiced their frustration at the decision, noting they were concerned about the potential repercussions a return to remote learning might have on their child’s mental well being.
“Have you not considered the untold damage to our children’s mental health during Covid in the last 2 years?,” one parent said in an email to the school obtained by Star News.
“Surely staff from the other campus can assist.
“Given small numbers of children in some classes surely they can be merged together.”
In response, Mr Feeney told Star News the school was unable to source the appropriate academic relief support to continue on-site classes.
“Teachers at each campus are fully allocated to duties at that campus and therefore cannot move campuses without needing to be replaced themselves,” he said.
“The shortage of casual teachers within the region, and more widely across Victoria, has made it significantly difficult for the campus to operate to a standard that is beneficial for our students.”
He said the statewide teacher shortage makes it “very challenging” to operate a school considering the added pressures of a pandemic and flu season.
It comes as several schools across the state deal with similar staff shortages as the state experiences a spike in Covid and influenza cases.
Victoria has recorded over 10,000 new Covid cases each day for the last 10 days, with 12,556 cases recorded today.
Meanwhile, the state has recorded more influenza cases so far this year than the last two years combined, causing experts to call for a return to mandatory masks indoors.
Speaking to the ABC earlier in the week, Education Minister James Merlino ruled out a widespread return to remote learning.
“Yes, there are staffing challenges, of course there are,” he told ABC reporters.
“We’ve committed to opening schools and keeping them open and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered as that is of highest benefit to our kids.”
