New documents show just how quickly things changed for Canberra's schools, going from business as usual to increasingly empty classrooms.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The internal documents shed more light on the government's thinking as it planned the mass migration of public school students to online learning ahead of Term 2.
The tranche of documents, published under freedom of information laws, show how quickly circumstances changed as the pandemic took hold in Australia in mid-March.
They revealed principals were told schools would operate as usual for the "foreseeable future", less than 48 hours before Ms Berry announced they would go "pupil-free" until the Term 1 school holidays.
READ MORE
The documents also reveal schools were running out of soap and hand sanitiser, and were unable to source more stock, in the frantic days before students were moved off campus.
The ACT government's handling of schools and the shift to remote learning has been among the most contentious parts of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following the "pupil-free" period, the early stages of which was plagued by mixed-messaging and mass confusion among parents and teachers, the government moved all public school students to remote learning in Term 2.
Students who couldn't learn from home were sent to one of nine supervised "hub" schools. Amid pressure from parents and the opposition, and the effective suppression of COVID-19 cases in the ACT, Ms Berry abandoned the controversial plan and started transitioning students back to the classroom from May 18.
The opposition was critical of the government throughout, accusing it of bowing to pressure from the teachers' union and not following medical experts, which maintained that schools were safe for students.
The government rejected the accusations at the time, and the newly released documents, which include daily briefing notes to Ms Berry from mid-March to early April, do not show evidence of undue pressure from the union.
The documents show the government moved to "pupil-free" days after student attendance at some primary schools dropped to 75 per cent, despite the ACT government and medical experts advising that campuses were safe.
The briefing notes showed that parents and teachers were concerned in mid-March about shortages of hygiene products at schools, including soap, hand towels and sanitiser. One note mentioned that a number of schools had contacted the directorate advising that they couldn't source supplies.
The ACT government has since signed a $480,000 contract with Mitchell-based Chemworks to make fortnightly deliveries of hand sanitiser to Canberra's public schools.
The ACT has not recorded a new COVID-19 infection in the past seven days, but local authorities are on high alert due to outbreaks in Melbourne and south-west Sydney.
When asked this week what the trigger would be for ACT schools to return to remote learning, Ms Berry said the government would act on relevant advice and consider the view of stakeholders including parent groups and unions.
Ms Berry said the education system was prepared to return to remote learning if required.
"Public schools are well positioned to deliver remote learning if required. More than 6000 teachers undertook professional learning to transition to remote learning and the ACT Government has made significant investment into ensuring students have access to devices and internet access where needed."
If the territory was forced back into remote learning, it is uncertain whether the government would revert to the contentious hub schools model.
Opposition education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee said the ACT government must base its decisions on health advice.
"Whatever these unprecedented times bring us, we must ensure that our children's education, development and wellbeing is at the centre, and that parents and teachers are supported," Ms Lee said.
"As we all saw last time, poor communication from government and the failure of the hub schools model resulted in our most vulnerable families being forgotten."
Education Minister Yvette Berry said public school students who were vulnerable to COVID-19 would be supported to learn remotely throughout Term 3 and for the duration of the pandemic.
She said families would need to seek medical advice from their general practitioner as to whether on-campus learning was appropriate.
But Ms Berry said there was no need for other students to return to home learning. Fewer than 1.5 per cent of students were learning remotely at the end of term.