A leading teaching union has said it is close to a dispute with some Scottish councils over preparations for reopening schools.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), suggested that one authority was refusing to carry out extra cleaning because of the cost.
Giving evidence to Holyrood’s education committee on Friday, Mr Flanagan told MSPs that other schools were asking more staff to return to work than was necessary.
Schools in Scotland are expected to reopen from August 11 using a “blended model”, which includes some home-based studying.
Mr Flanagan said it was “very welcome” that Scotland had so far avoided a major fall-out over plans to reopen schools, as has been witnessed in England in recent weeks.
However, he said: “Although there has been a broad consensus at a national level, there have certainly been some difficult areas in relation to individual councils.”
Despite agreements being reached over risk assessments and other preparations with many councils, Mr Flanagan suggested that was not true of all local authorities.
There are a number of councils where we are moving rapidly to a dispute situation.”
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan
He said: “There are a number of councils where we are moving rapidly to a dispute situation.
“One local authority is saying they certainly didn’t have the money to do an additional clean, therefore they wouldn’t be doing it but the schools would still be open.
“There’s a national agreement – cleaning the buildings is a prerequisite for reopening, so we are in a dialogue there.
“We’ve got local authorities instructing all staff to be in school from Monday, despite very clear guidance that staff should be back in small groups for the purpose of preparing for next year, and that public health remains the overriding concern.
“So there have been, and there are still, some areas to be sorted out in terms of individual local authorities.”
Mr Flanagan said that guidance had been agreed “so that we don’t end up with the kind of disputes that we’ve seen in England, which certainly drain away energy and morale at a time when we want to be working together to deliver effectively”.
He added: “Hopefully we will get some of those fires put out and be on an even keel in terms of moving forward.”
The EIS boss believed that some of the actions of councils could be explained by their desire to achieve additional funding for the extra costs associated with the pandemic.
A Cosla spokesman said: “Councils are working hard with all partners to prepare for the return of our children and young people to education.
“Local negotiations are taking place at the moment to address any concerns.”
Alison Evison, president of local government body Cosla, told Holyrood’s local government committee on Wednesday that the reopening of schools could depend on a funding lifeline.
“We cannot do this on our own. Services that councils provide on the ground are essential and will carry on being essential,” she said.
“The work we do in social care is tremendous, and that is going to be of increasing importance – Test and Protect and normal care for people as well.
“The reconfiguration of our schools to make sure social distancing is in place, to make sure the children and staff can return safely.
“Looking at the size of buildings, looking at how you get children to school, all of that is going to be a huge expense as well, and obviously the key worker hubs are going to carry on at the same time as well.
“We cannot do this without extra funding, it just cannot be done, so we need to carry on those talks with the Scottish Government, we need to work together and to work with the UK Government as well, because otherwise we cannot deliver.”
