Government u-turn saves two Kilrush teaching jobs

ST SENAN’S National School, Kilrush school principal, Avril Bolton has expressed relief at education minister Ruairí Quinn’s decision to retain 235 “legacy” posts under the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme.
St Senan’s, which caters for 300 pupils and has 23 teachers would have lost two of their staff over the next three years if the government hadn’t overturned their decision. St Senan’s is Deis Band 2 school.
“The important thing to point is that these are real teachers in real classes. They are full time, mainstream teachers who are reducing our class sizes. It would have possibly been phased in over a three-year period. We have two of those posts. We weren’t told if we were to lose the two teachers this year or whether we would lose one this year and one next year,” Avril Bolton commented.
“We’re very happy that the decision has been made to reverse the budget cutbacks in disadvantaged schools. What it means is Deis schools can retain their so called “legacy” posts although I would strongly object to the term “legacy,” the school principal told The Clare Champion. 
“What it means is that under a scheme prior to we becoming a Deis school, we had a concessionary post under the mantle ‘Giving Children an Even Break.’
“At the time the department would have done surveys and would have deemed it necessary that we merited extra teaching posts to reduce our class sizes. That’s what they’re referring to as ‘legacy’ posts although not all Deis schools have these posts,” Bolton explained.
She added that having access to the additional teachers has helped to improve the education given to the students at the school.
“What it has allowed us to do is reduce our class sizes and we’ve seen huge benefits to the children in having smaller class sizes in relation to self esteem and interaction, it has been very, very positive. We’ve seen an improvement in literacy and numeracy as well.”
“It’s great that common sense has prevailed in relation to the ‘legacy’ posts. However, the other decision that the minister has made is that schools will no longer be able to mix Resource and Learning Support. One teacher can’t do the two. That’s a ludicrous situation where teachers will be meeting on the road and passing each other out. But that’s another days work and a different issue,” she concluded.