Principals want calm during COVID-19 crisis

<h2>School principals are calling for composure and coherence as the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases rises&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation &lpar;NZPF&rpar;&comma; Perry Rush&comma; said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Principals are always the community leaders in challenging times&comma; and I am proud that principals have once again risen to the current COVID-19 challenge&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We have been successfully following the very clear nationally and internationally sourced expert advice from Government and the Ministry of Education and will continue to do so&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Liam Rutherford&comma; President of NZEI Te Riu Roa&comma; said&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Government&&num;8217&semi;s decision to close schools and early learning centres is a strong&comma; decisive and necessary move in the fight to flatten the curve of Covid-19&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>”Schools and early learning centres will be closed except for children of essential service workers on Tuesday and Wednesday&comma; before being closed completely from Wednesday night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The decision will be a real relief to those working in schools and ECE centres who have become more anxious as the threat of Covid-19 has grown&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Key to the Government&&num;8217&semi;s announcement was the assurance that all schools and ECE centres will continue to be funded as normal&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re talking with the Ministry of Education to make sure this means everyone working in education can continue to be paid as normal while they are forced to stay home&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;