Covid-19 additional cost of Highlands classrooms return could be up to £12m
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Highland schools are planning for three scenarios for reopening which are likely to cost up to an additional £12 million.
Councillors will discuss how schools – which have been closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus – can safely reopen at an education committee meeting today.
Schools across the Highlands are set to reopen on August 12.
Plans for doing so include:
* No social distancing;
* 1m social distancing using a range of additional buildings and more staff; and
* 2m social distancing using a range of additional buildings and more staff, with half the education being done at home
The council and headteachers will come up with plans for each school.
Paul Senior, the council's executive chief officer for education and learning, said: "Early indications of associated costs are in the region of £10 million to £12 million. This estimate will continue to be refined as officers complete the development of school, support and transport plans for all settings across the Highland Council area."
The additional costs include more than £4 million each on property management and school transport, plus smaller amounts for PPE and staff.
Kingussie High School and Grantown Grammar School are both currently working on plans for school transport given the wide catchment areas for pupils.
More cleaning requirements at the region's school will require the equivalent of 30 full-time jobs costing approximately £650,000.
Mr Senior said: "Highland Council and local area head teachers fully recognise the importance of our schools and settings reopening, not only in terms of education but for social and emotional reasons, especially for the most vulnerable children.
"We also recognise that role of getting children back to school and learning environments in helping to kickstart the economy. Ultimately, the safety of school and learning communities is paramount.
"The intention is to continue working closely with all staff at all levels and trade unions to enable our schools and settings, to be able to safely and effectively reopen from August 12. Risk assessment procedures linked to the options will inform all plans.
"The council will continue to support all of our staff in working through what the new proposals could look like, but ultimately each school and setting is different and the decision on how they reopen safely will rest with them. School transport capacity considerations will be as important in some locations, as the available building capacity.
"The council will be putting the safety of pupils, their families and school staff as our highest priority in developing a plan for children to return to schools and learning environments across the Highland Council region."
Councillors will also receive an update on plans for an early learning and childcare programme which was supposed to offer more free hours to parents from August.
The Scottish Government has scrapped that obligation due to the pandemic and options on what the council may do next will be provided to the committee next month.
But Mr Senior explained plans to expand the scheme to 1140 hours for all parents had been hit by pandemic-related setbacks impacting recruitment and capital investment.
