Are you ALWAYS available if school calls?

[m0therofdragons]

School secretary has been on the phone with a question about dd (age 7). Nothing major but she was really rude because she called both dh and I on our mobiles and my work phone which my manager answered and took a message.

Dh and I both happened to be in meetings.

We both called the school back about 25 minutes after they initially called. The third contact wasn't tried.

Usually I'm contactable. Her argument was I didn't know what the call was about and it could have been an emergency. My meeting was in a&e as I'm hospital management so if dd was being ambulanced in I'm in the right place but occasionally I have to go to other hospitals for meetings which could take me up to an hour and a half away. Less than once a month.

Do all other working parents work within 5 minutes of school and have their mobile on at all times?

No, I am not glued to my phone & can go a few hours without checking it or hearing it &, as is DH. He wouldn’t keep his mobile on whilst in client meetings etc. When I was first a SAHM (20 years ago) I didn’t have a mobile phone so if I was out & about I was just uncontactable ... we all coped before mobile phones .

You weren't allowed to join my dd school unless you had someone who could collect within 10 mins, didn't have to be a parent though.
I've always made sure I was contactable, but sahm.
I know people have to work, but school isn't childcare and if ill kids should be at home not hanging around school with noone to take care of them.
Our receptionist was an emetophobe, she refused to get involved and I don't blame her.

It's happened to me, except I was out of the country, the school secretary couldn't seem to grasp that I couldn't collect her because she was being cared for by a babysitter who was going straight to our house after work (dd was 14, her sister was 16 so not little ones). Not sure what school thought I could do from 3 hours flying time away

She was completely unreasonable. It’s frustrating calling people who don’t answer but there was no need for that at all.

There will be lots of people who cannot be available immediately. She should know this working in a school. Teachers often aren't available until the current lesson ends. If you are a nurse or doctor you may not be available if you are in an operation or consultation. Many other jobs mean that people are not available when they are focussed on complex or time critical work.

Because she has a job that involves being immediately available, she assumes that other people are the same.

@RomanyQueen how on earth could they enforce that? There is no way they can expect working parents to always be able to collect within 10min, and every SAHP I know is often busy, even if just at the supermarket.

I could answer the call almost all the time, but I cover the whole county so I may well be an hour away.

I'm always available and even if I missed the call I'd call back within 5 minutes. I'm hospital management too but not patient facing so I can always have my phone with me face up but on silent in meetings.
If the school phone mid meeting I say 'Sorry but I need to take this call' and step out.

I can't collect within 10 minutes It takes me a least an hour to get back to school from work.
My CM can collect in 10 minutes in an emergency though but has only had to do so on one occasion.

I don't know but they did.
Lots of grannies doing the school run though, so they all lived local anyway.
Nobody got in if they didn't live close. There were a couple of families who lived on the street.
The rest lived on surrounding streets.
I was emergency cover for a friend who worked 15 min walk away and had no other 3rd contact.
They said it was essential that children were collected when ill as nowhere to hold them and not receptionist or anyone else's job.

Nope.
I'm 45 minutes away at least.
DH is further away.

If you can reach us, it would probably be an hour or so before anyone was there to collect.

"What if it was an emergency"

Well presumably the school would send DS15 to hospital with an escort, or keep him safe until someone came for him.

And presumably you'd ring more than once?

My DH and I both have desk jobs where taking personal calls is absolutely fine, so in theory yes. But it's perfectly possible that we could both be in meetings /on a call etc.

She sounds rude and unreasonable. Not all families have a SAHP who stays within 7 minutes of the school at all times. Does anyone?

In an emergency they'd have tried everyone. It is frustrating when you can't get hold of anyone and have called and ambulance etc. It adds an extra layer of stress when the child is waiting for a parent. It's much easier to be able to say xx is on their way rather than "we're still waiting for xx to answer".

We have students who none of the contact details work for (because mum doesn't want to hear from school). I always worry what will happen with those children in an emergency.

Nope. And I have also faced rude reception staff in both primary and secondary schools as the receptionist at my work had to take a message (god forbid a mother actually working and not just twiddling her thumbs and getting tea ready)

Nope, not always immediately available and it’s 40 mins drive to school from work.

Widowed working parent doing my best.

Being sick is not an emergency its urgent to collect them yes but it's not what I consider an emergency

Sounds like the secretary needs some training

Definitely not. I can’t imagine many parents are contactable constantly.

I'm a nurse and work in a place with no phone signal, so leave my mobile in my bag. Even if they rang the ward phone, I wouldn't necessarily be able to come straight to the phone. Even if I answered the phone, I couldn't leave the shift unless it was life-threateningly important (in which case, I would stay at work and meet DC in A&E) and it would probably take about a hour to get to the school on the bus from work. I always write on emergency contact forms for school/ nursery/ after-school club etc that DH should be called first for these reasons, but they don't always follow my instructions. DH often ignores his phone, especially if he doesn't recognise the number ringing though and is sometimes in meetings. However, he has a car, a flexible job and works about 5mins away from school/ nursery. Our third emergency contact is MIL and I give her landline and mobile, so she would answer but is 30mins away. I think, if the school phoned her, she would repeatedly phone DH until he answered as he would answer her in case it was a family emergency.

Nope... Even if have phone with me might miss if in very noisy location. At my previous job it was hazardous take mobile into some areas... They could get someone to find me in an emergency but it could take time.
A colleagues wife worked in surgery.. She had interesting discussions at times with school reception if child needed to go home (but not urgent) and couldn't understand that she couldn't always immediately drop everything and come...

Mobile phone reception in our office is practically non existent, when school tried to phone me the other week they got my answer phone twice. When I called them back when my phone finally pinged half an hour later I asked why they hadn't called my desk number which they also have on record. "Oh we know most parents haven't updated those so we don't bother". So why send out an update your details form every year if they aren't going to believe them?

A colleagues wife worked in surgery.. She had interesting discussions at times with school reception if child needed to go home (but not urgent) and couldn't understand that she couldn't always immediately drop everything and come...

Did the colleague go or was it left to a 3rd contact?

I can see both sides. The children are the responsibility of the parents or somebody else to collect. It's not fair to expect others whose job it isn't to look after them.
But parents need to work. Tbh, I sort of agree with the 10 min rule, and parents should work close to school or have 3rd emergency contact

It's a pain when kids are ill because they need supervising but aren't in lessons. This usually means someone from the office has to supervise and ends up with a sick kid in the office while they try and work, or sat with said kid in a medical area until someone comes to collect.
In those scenarios I think there should be a contact within 30 mins away. It's not pleasant for the child if they are ill either.

No way. I’m not attached to my mobile and when I’m at home it tends to live in my bag, I use my landline.

How on earth did we manage before we had mobiles a generation ago?

Depends. Normally I’m easy to get hold of part from the time DC broke a bone and my phone was out of signal and DH was in high security meeting without phone!

Landlines, work phones, next-door neighbours and friends picked up sick children.