What is offered in the schools? Crackers and water or your own snacks – “A whole week of adjusting again” – 2024-02-14 20:01:47

The super week of strikes has started and it has affected the everyday life of many people. Since Tuesday, the strikes have affected the daycares, early childhood education units, family day care and open early childhood education in the largest locations of Super and Tehy members, including playground and club activities.

JHL, the association of public and welfare sectors, is part of the early childhood education strike. Kindergartens and other early childhood education have closed for two days in the municipalities listed below from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The work stoppage affects the following cities: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Joensuu, Pori, Rovaniemi, Kauniainen, Mustasaari and Vaasa.

The strike includes both the private and the public sector. Family day care workers under JHL are also participating in the strike.

There are also companies and business establishments that are responsible for food and space services in cities.

It has been difficult to organize meals

The organization of school and kindergarten meals has raised a lot of questions among parents. Unclear messages are difficult to read, to say the least, and many of the messages have contained uncertainty about the state of the food.

The mother of an elementary school boy who lives in Espoo tells Iltalehte that she received a message from the school principal late on Monday evening about organizing a meal. The message came through the Wilma system.

Pea soup was served at Vanttila school. Reader’s photo

At Vanttila school on Tuesday, the students were served pea soup and laskias bun. However, it was mentioned in the advance notice that special diets cannot necessarily be followed. The reliability of the food served was also weak on Monday evening.

– The whole week again such adjustments because of these strikes, the mother tells her thoughts.

During Tuesday, there was still no information about Wednesday.

The Evaka message system is used in daycare centers in the city of Espoo. As for the daycare centers, the messages have been similar: the children’s guardians received a message on Friday saying that meals were uncertain. It was also not possible to take medication related to the treatment of the disease during the strike.

– For safety reasons, guardians are asked to reserve snacks that can be kept warm for children and young people following a special diet, the message says.

In Espoo, the mother of a kindergarten-aged child tells Iltalehti that they had to fill out an information form if the child was taken to open kindergartens, because there were possibly foreign staff and mixed groups.

– Yesterday there was a more detailed list of the open kindergartens, where you can go in order of arrival, so to speak, that is, as many as they can take in, the mother says.

The principal of Espoo’s Lintulaakso school opens up about the effects of the strike

Principal of Espoo’s Lintulaakso school Petteri Kuusimäki tells Iltalehte how the school meals have been implemented during the strike days.

– As far as our school is concerned, the strike situation has been handled well, because we have a swimming season going on and we go to the swimming halls, Kuusimäki says.

Food for the school is delivered by Espoo Catering. Kuusimäki says that the arrangements have succeeded surprisingly well in the situation.

According to the principal, the school has made “internal arrangements” so that everyone would have enough food for Wednesday as well. The principal does not reveal in more detail what the arrangements are, but says that there are “some restrictions” regarding Wednesday

– Whether hot food is available for everyone is still unclear. In any case, there is food for everyone.

Iltalehti received an impressive screenshot from the Wilma message, where it is said that the students will receive snack bread and water.

The principal says that he has heard of similar messages and says that it is not an official message from the school.

Iltalehti asked what is served to the students at school.

– I don’t have exact information about what the students have, but Espoon Catering does not offer snacks and water to the students.

Kuusimäki says that he had a conversation with the meal service provider earlier in the day and they agreed together that “we’ll get through this tomorrow just fine.” The principal says that no official message has been sent from the school to the students’ parents regarding school meals.

– If such a message (pretzels and water) has been sent, it would be nice to know from whom, so that the situation could be rectified, Kuusimäki says.

– The strike affects everything everywhere, but as for Wednesday, food can be delivered normally, and there is no need to send a message to the guardians.

Kuusimäki does not know where the message in question has reached the students’ parents. Iltalehti did not reach the producers of meal services during Tuesday evening to comment on the meals organized in schools.