Principal "disillusioned" at impact of education cuts

Principal of Athlone Community College Val O"Connor has said that throughout his decades of teaching he has never felt so disillusioned as he is now. Speaking at last night"s (Monday) meeting of the Westmeath VEC, the principal said that he was facing the prospect of sending pupils home from school next year as he will no longer be able to provide substitute teacher who are off on non-certified sick leave, which accounts for over seven per cent of all teacher absences during the academic year. Due to cutbacks, field trips may also no longer be possible as students not on the trip will not be supervised by a replacement teacher for the one who is leading the excursion. The school"s annual exchange trip to Germany has already been cancelled 'Even things like Geography field trips may no longer be possible. Students that are grouped together in a class may not all be taking the same subjects so those that are left behind will have no teacher supervision as I am no longer allowed to provide a substitute. 'We need to look at the long term implications of these cuts and realise that this year in Athlone we will lose 3.6 teachers, Mullingar will lose 1.5 and Castlepollard will lose 0.5 teachers and a total of 733 teaching hours and that is just in Westmeath. 'What is most disheartening is that the book rental scheme ... that will mean a further loss of income of €20,000 of the school in Athlone. We will be seeing cuts in adult literacy places, places at senior traveller training centres, an eight per cent cut in youth grants and a three per cent cut in the VEC pay roll. 'I think though that the cut in the book grant scheme is the most unforgivable thing. Families simply won"t purchase books. 'There will be no extra curricular activities which keep students happy and teachers sane. 'There seems to be a complete lack of understanding on how serious this situation is. This is the first time in my entire career that I have felt truly disillusioned.'