Two Kerry schools, which are both facing the loss of a teacher, are asking the Minister for Education to intervene.
The Primary Staffing Appeals Board – an independent body – has upheld a decision that Ballyduff National School and Tarbert National School will each lose a teacher from September.
The decision was based on pupil numbers at the end of last September when Ballyduff recorded 107 students – 108 was needed to maintain existing teacher numbers – and Tarbert had 137 pupils, when it needed 138 to retain all its teachers.
The principal of Ballyduff National School, Marie Lucid, says the appeals process doesn’t take into account the circumstances faced by individual schools.
She says Ballyduff is a DEIS school which is a school with a high concentration of pupils who come from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Ms Lucid says if her school loses a teacher, then there will be just one teacher to educate 35 children in fifth and sixth classes.
Sinéad Enright is a member of the parents’ association with Tarbert National School.
She says the school can’t afford to lose a teacher as 16 Ukrainian children have recently enrolled there, that Tarbert is also a DEIS school, and that there’ll be a rise in enrolments when a new social housing development is completed.
Although an independent appeals body upheld the decision to reduce the number of teachers in both schools, Ms Enright and Ms Lucid are calling on the Education Minister to intervene.
Sinéad Enright says Minister Norma Foley, who’s Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry, has to get involved.
