Premier Peter Gutwein and Acting Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff need to immediately release government modelling on the impact of COVID-19 in Tasmanian schools to give families and staff a true picture of what to expect from Wednesday when classes resume.
Shadow Education Minister Josh Willie said it was understood modelling carried out by the Education Department in anticipation of the Gutwein Government opening classrooms to COVID showed four per cent of staff would either contract COVID or be required to isolate.
Mr Willie said it was also understood that the modelling showed if that number rose to as high as 10 per cent, the government would come under pressure to keep some schools operational.
"The government needs to be honest with staff and parents and students and provide some certainty - or otherwise - for schools going forward," Mr Willie said.
"We already know of schools that are reopening this week without the necessary baseline staff numbers so we are already in a bad situation before COVID is taken into account."
Mr Willie said Mr Rockliff also needs to provide more clarity around the government's claims to have a significant pool of relief and retired teachers to draw from should numbers of permanent teaching staff become ill.
"It's now clear that Premier Gutwein's claim to have access to 1,700 relief teachers and 400 recently retired teachers is simply not true.
"The real figure is a total of 1,771 and an indication of the coming pressure is the fact that part-time staff are being emailed and asked to increase their hours at other schools as well as the government flagging that teachers on long service leave will be recalled.
"Those relief staff and retired staff need answers to serious questions before they agree to go back to school.
"Will RATs be available to them?
"Will relief staff be paid sick leave should they contract COVID?
"Has the missing Education Minister Sarah Courtney been briefed on this advice while she is overseas and will she take responsibility for it when she returns?
"Mr Rockliff must realise he has to answer these important questions before he gets a commitment from teachers and he has to be honest with them and the entire school community about what to expect - based on his modelling - in the coming weeks."
Josh Willie MLC
Shadow Minister for Education and Early Years
