To be annoyed at the council for insisting on re-opening schools when it is not safe to get to them

[prettybirdinapeartree]

Glasgow schools went back today (at least, those that didn't have burst piple/broken boilers ) but it was an absolute nightmare to actually get there.

The only way to get to ds' school safely was to walk in the middle of the road The pavements were rutted ice covered with a thin layer of water so therefore impossible to stay upright on.

Ds (10, P6) usually walks to and from school on his own but because we knew the roads and pvements were in really bad condition, today we accompanied him. Dh came back from taking him absolutely fizzing.

Not only was the lollipop man not there because the closest school is shut 'cos of burst pipes (strange dog's leg catchment: even though ds goes to his catchment school, to get there, he needs to cross the road close to the other primary school, which is actually closer to us) but the hill that the kids had to walk down to get to school was sheet ice. On the way back, dh saw two kids and two adults fall heavily while walking on the road - which was actually less slippy than the pavement. The only pavement that was gritted was the one directly outside of the school.

I picked ds up - and had to walk down the middle of our road (relatively quiet so not too much of an issue - but not something a 10 year old should do on their own) and then walk down (and back up) a much busier road (the one where dh saw people falling in the morning), again on the road as it is on a hill and the pavement was impossible to walk on.

DS1 has been off nursery now for two weeks due to the weather and ofcourse 'power problems'

zipzap: all very good ideas. However, you are assuming that our council actually wants to use the technology that is available to them and actually listens to the dieas that come from the parents or, worse the teachers that work for them

This is the council that threatened disciplinary action against any teacher that gave the Parent Councils (the Scottish equivalent of School Boards, but without any of the power) honest opinions about policies unless those opnions directly aligned with waht the Council was wanting to do

So no, I can't sign up for text updates speciifcally for my school. I could sign up to the Council's twitter feed - but that would mean getting udates about everything, including ther Council's opinions about the Scottish Government's budget cuts, whther the libraries are open etc etc

I've got a ogood relationship with the school and knows that it does its best. Can yuo tell that I am a wee bit pissed of with the stalinistic command and controlapproach of the council??

Stirling Councils website crashed all the time last week so they set up a blog which had all the information on it.

They do also have a Facebook page which went from 500 'likes' to currently 2,500! The abuse they have been getting on it is hilarious - lots of teenagers coming on and ripping into them about 'ruined ma Uggs cuz youse made us git ti skool' and parents complaining about the pavements.

Friday was the worst day for out walking as the thaw had turned the snow to water and it just lay on this bed of ice cos all the drains are clogged up with snow - treacherous!

lol at toasted snow.
Preps are a really good idea, probably for around Thursday night on I'm afraid. I hope its not as bad for you this time round.

AMumInScotland are you in WL cos that sounds very familiar. Schools were shut all week then reopened last monday in blizzard conditions, I ask you!!

Yes, that's us too - got DS into school on Monday, drove about 2 miles in an hour, turned round and came back, did some shopping and collected him at lunchtime, all in blizzards! We didn't send him back again till Friday after that.

prettybird I think yab a bit u to be cross about your particular school being open. it doesn't mean you have to take your child there if you think it's unsafe. yanbu to be annoyed that decisions are made by council dictate rather than by headteachers though

I wouldn't have been annoyed if the message from the council had been "schools are open but only take your children if it safe to do so". As it was, it was blanket assumption that you should get your kids to school and as a consequence, any absence would be unauthorised - unlike, for example, Edinburgh, which did make the point that if it wasn't safe to get there, absence would be recorded as "authorised".

I suppose at the core of my irritation is the "comand and control" approach of Glasgow City Council, which allows no dicretion to the head teacher who can actually see the conditions surrounding the school. (The head teacher, BTW, was taking 3 hours to get to school last week, when there was no-one there, and the same again for the reverse journey as it wasn't safe for her to drive)