Highland Council chief executive Donna Manson appears before Scottish Parliament Covid-19 committee to speak about the authority's experience of coronavirus pandemic
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The chief executive of Highland Council spoke about preparations for the return of schools when she appeared before a parliamentary committee today.
Donna Manson appeared before the Scottish Parliament's Covid-19 committee via a remote online connection.
When asked whether the Scottish Government had provided enough support and guidance for the "blended learning model" expected to see pupils split their time between attending school and learning at home Mrs Manson said that, when decisions changed quickly, such as accommodating pupils at least 50 per cent of the time, it had set education professionals into a "bit of a flurry".
She said Highland schools had been given a deadline of Friday to finalise plans and staff were looking at what other buildings could be used to help achieve the 50 per cent target.
On wider issues she said voncerns for residents in the Highlands had included people visiting second homes in the region.
She also said: "People from European countries, who have been with our communities for a long, long time, have experienced some unpleasant incidents in terms of comments that they should go home."
She also objected to incidents where posters had been put up in the Highlands warning tourists to stay away.
She described it as "really unpleasant stuff".
She also made it clear that she agreed with the response to the pandemic being taken on a national rather than a regional basis.
"National messages have kept everybody feeling safe and it has kept everybody together," she said.
