Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Councillor Jennifer Whitmore, has criticised the Department of Education\u2019s advice to schools\u2019 boards of management this morning as \u2018too little, too late\u2019.<\/p>\n
Greystones Councillor Whitmore said:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 5.50a.m. this morning, Met \u00c9ireann issued a Status Red weather warning for snow and ice in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow and Meath.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it wasn\u2019t until an hour and a half later \u2013 at 7.18a.m. \u2013 that the Minister for Education issued a tweet advising that decisions on school closures would be made locally by each school, including those in Red areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was too little too late. If the weather forecast is serious enough for a Status Red warning, then surely there should be early and clear direction from the Department to schools that a red alert means stay at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have heard that some parents in Dublin did not receive notifications from their schools until after 7a.m. \u00a0today. It is not good enough for working parents to be told at such short notice that their childrens\u2019 schools will be closed. Parents then have to scramble to put in place childcare arrangements or negotiate with their employers to take time off work or work from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this exceptional weather is set to continue for the rest of the school week, the Department of Education needs to get out early with appropriate guidance for schools’ boards of management around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
28 February 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Social Democrats Spokesperson for Children, Councillor Jennifer Whitmore, has criticised the Department of Education\u2019s advice to schools\u2019 boards of management this morning as \u2018too little, too late\u2019. Greystones Councillor Whitmore said: \u201cAt 5.50a.m. this morning, Met \u00c9ireann issued a Status Red weather warning for snow and ice in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow and Meath. \u201cHowever, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,8,7],"tags":[47,48,309,17],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-latest-news","category-press-release","tag-greystones","tag-jennifer-whitmore","tag-met-eireann","tag-social-democrats"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n