Mr. John Boyle:

On that point and that particular school, which is not the only school affected, this situation has only arisen because of the blunt instrument of the staffing schedule for primary schools. Under this schedule, one becomes a walking principal when the school gains four children. If the school then loses some of these children, it not only could end up losing its administrative deputy principal, who had been given 183 days to administer the school but will now only have 37, but it also suffers the double penalty of losing an additional classroom teacher. That could be very easily addressed in the budget. If this was to be part of budget considerations in this pandemic year, it could be backdated to this September with an appeals mechanism to allow such schools to not lose their teachers immediately. We now see the ridiculous scenario in which some of those schools that will lose a teacher in September 2020 will get that teacher, or even two teachers, back the following year if its enrolment increases. The Deputy's Government can certainly address this issue. It is something for which we have been calling for many years.