With the forthcoming election for the Scottish Parliament, we as a parents group strongly disagree with Aberdeen City Council’s continued use of Glashieburn Primary as a polling station.
The school has been closed several times in recent years for various national and local elections and referendums and looks likely to be shut again in May.
We’ve contacted the council previously asking that they use alternative venues and they’ve said there are none suitable and instead have asked us as a group to suggest somewhere and they’ll consider it.
What angers us most as parents is, since March last year, the schools have for the most part been off limits.
Our own children continue to be denied access or have restrictions placed on them, ASN support staff aren’t allowed on site and even we as parents have not been able to enter the school since March 2020.
We believe it’s unacceptable that we’ve had these restrictions placed on us, yet for the election anyone will potentially be allowed onto the site.
Furthermore, it’s reported in the media that polling stations may be kept open for more than a day to comply with Covid protocols.
We are not against the democratic process but feel our children’s education has suffered enough this last 12 months, and even if the school is closed for one day, it’s one day too many. We would urge the council to reconsider using the school this time round more than ever.
Duncan Milne, Chairman, Glashieburn Parent Council.
New strain vigilance
Now that the Brazil Covid variant has reached the United Kingdom, it is vitally important that members of the public who have close contact work with the general public – eg teachers, care home staff etc – to continue self-testing/being tested, even if vaccinated.
The vaccine is not the “Holy Grail” and does not make you immune.
The vaccine may well make you asymptomatic, so you could be spreading the virus without knowing, and the only way to know if you are infected is by regular testing or by recognising any symptoms.
Also, because we don’t know how effective our vaccines are against the Brazilian variant, or indeed may be on other different mutations of the virus, it is now crucially important that we all adhere to the current guidance if we want to return to a “normal” lifestyle.
JH, Aberdeen.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.