Labor Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk has managed to confuse almost every parent in the sunshine state after demanding parents pick their kids up from school EARLY with no notice whatsoever.

What was the reasoning for her bizarre decision?

Apparently, the floods are unprecedented, and caution is required, so taking kids out of school is necessary.

Really Premier?

Didn’t the floods reach their peak point on Wednesday?

Can’t schools decide for themselves whether they should shut?

Are you really saying every school in south-east Queensland is at threat of flooding?

If you are so concerned about the risk, then why did you only decide to shut schools yesterday?

Given storms are predicted for all of next week, will school be cancelled for another five days?

If the floods are so bad, is it really a good idea for every parent to jump in the car at the same time to go pick their kids up from school?

Who on Earth is advising you on all this?

As ADVANCE wrote during the time of COVID-19, kids should NOT be taken out of school unless lives are at stake.

Afterall, the evidence about how taking kids out of school during COVID-19 undermines their development is only just streaming in now.

According to a report by the global management consulting firm McKinsey, most students were about four to five months behind where they should have been in math and reading at the end of the 2020-2021 school year.

In the United States graduation rates dipped, and some education leaders fear future graduating classes may be hit even harder.

A review of 36 studies across 11 countries found school closings were harming students’ social and emotional well-being.

By the summer of 2021, teachers and administrators in the U.S. said students felt more emotional distress, disengagement, depression, anxiety and loneliness than in previous years.

McKinsey found that 28 per cent of all parents of children in grades K-12 are “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about their child’s mental health and social and emotional well-being. That’s down from a high of 35 per cent in spring 2021 but is still 7 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.

The return to in-person learning has been accompanied by school leaders’ reports of increasing student misbehaviour and threats of violence.

During lockdowns in Italy, children with obesity engaged in less physical activity, slept and used screens more and increased their consumption of potato chips and sugary drinks.

One study even found that Chinese preschool children whose schools closed during the pandemic were shorter than preschoolers in previous years.

So, to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: Stop messing with our children’s learning.

Taking kids out of school makes them dumb, unhealthy and unstable.

We understand tough calls had to be made during the outbreak of COVID-19, but there is no excuse for closing every school in south-east Queensland.

Leave the decision up to school principals who can assess the risks of flooding based on their location, infrastructure and emergency protocols.

It’s just basic bloody common sense! We’re sick to death of out-of-touch politicians meddling with our lives…