Roles and responsibilities

What is expected of early childhood education services, schools, tertiary organisations and other education service providers?

Early childhood education (ECE) services, schools and tertiary organisations are expected to develop their own pandemic plans to protect students and staff. In most cases this will involve reviewing and updating existing emergency management plans, to include a simple pandemic section. The Ministry of Education has developed this Pandemic Planning Kit to assist education providers to create their own plans. The Kit includes a step-by-step guide in the format of a Pandemic Plan template, supporting documents such as posters, forms and guidelines; and a wide range of other material to support the development and implementation of your pandemic plan.

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What should our early childhood education services, school or tertiary organisation do now to prepare for an influenza pandemic?

1. Appoint a Pandemic Manager (see the end of this document for more information about the role and responsibilities of a Pandemic Manager).
2. Visit the Ministry of Education website at www.minedu.govt.nz and use the Pandemic Planning Kit to complete your ECE/School/TEOs' Pandemic Plan.
3. Place posters on `How to Wash Your Hands' on all ECE/School/TEO noticeboards and in bathrooms.
4. Talk to the students, parents and staff about the ECE/School/TEOs' Pandemic Plan.
5. Allocate an isolation room or area.
6. Make sure your ECE/School/TEO has an emergency survival kit. Plan for about a week's worth of essential supplies such as non-perishable food, as well as plenty of fluids. For further information see the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management website at www.civildefence.govt.nz on `What to do in a disaster'. Make sure you include paracetamol (for fever) and lots of paper towels in the emergency survival kit.
7. Rehearse your Pandemic Plan.

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What are our obligations in terms of closures?

The Education Sector (all education providers) will need to take direction to remain open, close or reopen by the following organisations:-

• Ministry of Health, or
• Local Medical Officers of Health or their designates, or the
• Ministry of Education, on behalf of the Ministry of Health

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What does closure mean?

Closing centres/schools/TEOs to students would not necessarily mean that facilities would be closed in a quarantine sense. Staff may still go to work, work remotely, or carry out `alternative duties' for other agencies with their board's pre-approval. Facilities may also be used for alternative purposes such as Community Based Assessment Centres (CBAC).

For more information about ECE/School/TEO closures please refer to Question and answers under the heading `Education Provider Closures'.

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What does the Legislation say?

The Education (Early Childhood Centres) Regulations 1998:

Require licensees to take reasonable steps to exclude children or staff if they have an infectious disease specified in Schedule 2 of the Health (Infectious and Notifiable Diseases) Regulations 1966;

Provide that the health regulations will apply to early childhood centres, in the same way but with the necessary modifications, as they apply to schools;

Enable the Secretary for Education to suspend a centre’s licence (and therefore stop it from operating) if reasonable action is not taken to prevent children from coming into contact with a person suffering from an infectious disease. This discretion is rarely exercised in normal circumstances, but could be used in the event of a pandemic. It is more likely, however, that the Medical Officer of Health would exercise powers under the Health Act 1956 to restrict the attendance at early childhood centres as necessary.

Education Act 1989

The Education Act 1989 gives principals and boards powers to exclude particular students and staff or to close their centre/school in certain circumstances:

Section 19 provides that a principal may exclude a student who may have a communicable disease (communicable diseases are specified in the Schedule to the Act. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or `bird flu' (HPAI subtype H5N1) was added on 12 February 2004. In practice, schools would generally proceed subject to advice received from health authorities.

Section 65E provides that a board may close a school in an emergency such as an epidemic.

The Health (Infectious and Notifiable Diseases) Regulations place duties on schools, teachers and parents in the case of a pandemic.

Regulation 14 provides that schools must exclude teachers and students who have an infectious disease.

Careful exercise of all these powers will be especially important in the "stamp it out" stage. Any decision by the manager, board chair, principal or chief executive to close the centre/school/institution should be based on advice from health authorities.

For example, if a cluster outbreak is declared in Wellington, health authorities are more than likely to close education facilities to students across the region at the end of the business day. Therefore, any ill-advised action such as an unnecessary closure would make life very difficult for the wider community.

Tertiary

There is no specific power in the education legislation authorising the closure of tertiary institutions. That power lies with the Ministry of Health under the Health Act 1956.

Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992

In addition to requirements under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act, pandemic planning will help ECE/Schools/TEOs ensure they meet their obligations under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, including:

provide and maintain for employees a safe working environment

provide and maintain for employees while they are at work facilities for their safety and health..."

Section 28: Employees may refuse to perform work likely to cause serious harm - "An employee may refuse to do work if the employee believes that the work that the employee is required to perform is likely to cause serious harm to him or her...."

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What is the role of the Pandemic Manager?

The role of the Pandemic Manager is to ensure that:

• students and staff members affected by a pandemic event are managed effectively throughout its duration;
• the organisation provides a safe working environment for those that remain; and 
• students and staff who have been absent can return to ECE/School/TEO fully recovered and in a positive manner.

The role has two core functions:

1. To manage and implement the ECE/School/TEOs’ health and safety responses at each code alert level, including establishing and testing the necessary health and safety processes within the site.
2. To manage students and staff affected by the pandemic, either because they become ill at ECE/School/TEO, are absent from ECE/School/TEO or have been in contact with students and/or staff who become ill, and their return to ECE/School/TEO

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Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include:

1. Establishing a pandemic response plan and processes needed to ensure that the ECE/School/TEOs’ response and actions at each code alert level are consistent with public health planning requirements.
2. Ensuring, in line with ECE/School/TEO policies, the ECE/School/TEO has adequate supplies of tissues, medical and hand hygiene products, cleaning supplies and masks for people who become ill at ECE/School/TEO. These may be difficult to purchase once a pandemic begins.
3. Setting up a system to monitor students and staff who are ill or suspected to be ill in the event of a pandemic, including contacting students and staff who are unexpectedly absent from ECE/School/TEO - has their health professional been notified of their illness? Have contact issues been addressed? Is someone able to care for them?
4. Link into and maintain information on the wider welfare activities within the local community that students and staff may need to access in the event of a pandemic eg, how would they access food if they are unable to leave their home, who to contact in the event that normal care givers are sick and not available.
5. Provide health and safety training and advice to staff, keeping all staff regularly informed of the ECE/School/TEOs’ response plan, ensuring information on influenza prevention, how to treat students and staff that become ill at ECE/School/TEO and how ill students and staff will be supported is communicated and included in induction processes for new students and staff. 
6. Ensure an up to date listing of student and staff contact details, next of kin etc is maintained. 
7. Setting up a process to facilitate / encourage the return of students and staff to ECE/School/TEO once they are better or at the end of a quarantine period. 
8. Implementing the ECE/School/TEO response to the "phase alerts" published by Ministry of Health
   • Co-ordinating communications to students and staff at different phases of pandemic Managing students and staff who become ill at ECE/School/TEO and informing their teachers, managers and next of kin
   • Managing students and staff who may have come into contact with other people who become ill at ECE/School/TEO
   • Managing the absence and return to ECE/School/TEO of students and staff and their contacts
   • Managing students and staff who are travelling at the time of a pandemic event
   • Ensuring appropriate notices are displayed
   • Liaising with parents and other Pandemic Managers within the ECE/School/TEO cluster or region as required
   • Liaising via your cluster single point of contact to your District Health Board
   • Liaising with the Education sector’s liaison person who will be located at the local Health Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)
   • Implementing the response as advised by either the Medical Officers of Health or the Ministry of Health via the Ministry of Education.