To think this isn’t fair? School and snow

Would you prefer it if the closed had closed completely due to headteacher not being able to make it in?

What makes you sure it's a man?

My kids school was open today, but I found out at 8am (20 mins before it's due) the taxi was cancelled. Bus was cancelled and I don't drive, Uber was 3x the price. Called the school explained and they said it's absolutely fine it can't be helped.

I can think of various reasons why the HT would need to wfh. Surely you can too?

This is such an odd thing to complain about. A headteacher is not a schoolchild. He's in a position of employment as the head of an organisation. He can work this position however he and his superiors feels fit.

Almost every single headteacher in the country will sometimes work off-site, at other schools, from home, attend conferences, meetings etc. out of the area. Being the Head of the school has nothing to do with being present on the school grounds 24/7. He's entitled to work off the school site whether there was snow or not. It's a senior position. There are a multitude of reasons he was not working from the school grounds today, all of them completely standard and in the realm of being a headteacher. Or possibly, he couldn't get in from where he lived due to the snow. Unlike children who live in the surrounding areas to a school, its prudent for most teachers to not live near their school at all for obvious reasons.

Any excuse to blame teachers for something.

Yabu. People live all over.

How exactly did this impact your DDs education?

FFS, schools are damned if they do and damned if they don’t open due to the weather. They honestly can’t win.

What is unfair about it exactly? I’m sure if individual children had a real problem getting in due to the weather they would be understanding too, but the likelihood is most kids are pretty local and the head likely lives some distance away.

a few miles has made a big difference here as to whether people have had snow/ice or not.

Who is this not fair to? Would you rather everyone stayed off because the head teacher couldn't get in and your daughter missed a day of school?

The usual rule for schools is that those who can safely get there do so, those that can't stay home. That applies to staff as well as children. It's perfectly normal and sensible.

Does the head actually teach lessons or could their job be done remotely? Did every member of staff and pupil get in except the head, or were some impacted by the weather?

I think YABU and don’t know all the facts.

I'm going to guess the HT wasn't sitting at home doing nothing. OP. None of your business.

It’ll be distance thing. If it’s a primary school where the bulk of children live within walking distance of the school, then it’s reasonable to assume they will be able to go to school. If the majority of staff can get to the school safely, then again, they should do so, they are being paid for the day and should only stay at home if it wasn’t possible to get to work or it’s not safe to do so. But if the head doesn’t live somewhere it would be possible to safely get to work from home, then yep, they would be better not trying.

I find most posts about "fairness" are faintly ridiculous. As an adult, you should know there's not really any such thing. Everything pp have said about the head's circumstances are true. She's not dossing at home or playing snowballs.

You don't know the heads circumstances. They could live rurally, could have DC or vulnerable relatives they have caring responsibilities for unable to go to school/day care because of closures.

You're being so uneasonable -every headteacher I've worked with is usually first on site each morning at the crack of dawn to unlock before even the cleaner or caretaker arrives, and last to leave at night after meetings are finished and the last child has been picked up late from our after school provision, locking up. That's the norm you're probably not around early enough or late enough to be aware of. So staying home one day, during a weather warning, when their physical presence isn't necessary to the operational running of the school, isn't going to cause a problem. So many headteachers quietly go many, many 'extra miles' which the school community isn't aware of.

The school can function without the head being onsite. Why are you so bothered?

I think you'll find there have been other days when the head isn't on site - it's in the nature of the job.

You seem quite bitter about it. I'd work on understanding that there could be a whole raft of reasons for the head not being in school and starting a thread on Mumsnet is a tad unhinged.

What if the head teacher lives very far away and the other staff and local? What if the head teacher's children's school is closed and she has no childcare.
If they have enough staff to open and it's safe for the children to travel in, then even if the head can't make to they should still open.

I had similar in my old job. 8 months pregnant and the head closed the school early (whilst WFH) except for after school club, which she mandated must stay open, with three members of staff on site (including me, as SLT/first aider), which would have meant travelling home in the dark at 6pm. For three children. She said we had a “duty to parents” and “the roads weren’t that bad” (she hadn’t come in because she couldn’t get her car off her drive). You don’t know the specifics, but it is incredibly demoralising to work in those conditions.

The head may have a meeting offsite for all you know.

I wouldn’t have any idea if the head of our primary was in or not. Think you’ve got too much time on your hands

Presumably the school can still operate without the head being on site for one day, whereas it’s more difficult if class teachers aren’t there. Also assume the head is probably wfh and had a good reason for not being able to get in - do you know if they stayed at home because of snow and not illness, for example? If it is snow then yes ideally the head would set the tone from the top and try to make it in, but it’s unlikely you’re in possession of all the facts.