AIBU to think that a headteacher shouldn't go on holiday during term time

[iwenttohollywoodtoo]

I found out today that the headteacher at DD's school is on holiday abroad and won't be in school until tomorrow.

Technically she has only missed two days so AIBU to think this is out of order, especially given that the school has a policy of not authorising holidays for pupils.

Like many other parents would do, I booked a flight a day earlier when we went away at Xmas (at significant extra £), to make sure DD didn't miss school .

I am to be honest. AIBU?

Suffolk - We have a beautiful little Italian 200 yards from our school. I definitely picked the right place to work

Ah the written word. FasterStronger are patients who complain about waiting times dumb ass. Are schools/teachers on some higher plain where to find fault with them is just.... wrong?
The OP was shocked. In the absence of any explanation, people gossiped speculated. I think that is human myself, and not unreasonable.

hospital waiting times are like a HT having time off work for reasons unknown?

I don't think so.

Halfspam I can't tell my boss what to do, but they can't insist I be at work on time if they are habitually late themselves.

Faster I'm not comparing a haircut to a career - I'm comparing services

Fair enough, if I had a specific appointment to meet the head (=a specific named individual) on a particular day and the head then was not there, then I would want some kind of explanation.

But most parents or pupils will have no reason to need to know exactly where the head is at any one time: all they need to know is that the school is being managed and that everything is running smoothly. Which, if there is a deputy head, can surely be taken as read? They don't need to know the details. They just need to know that somebody is in charge.

I don't see that the services lisbeth speaks of needs to include knowing where the head is all the time. If I need to speak to the head and the head is away, I will speak to the deputy head. If my GP is not in, I see the locum. I do not need to know the details.

No Y.N.B.U. If it were you taking your D.C out of school you'd be dragged over the coals and recieve a fine. What a bad example she is setting.
On this planet what is good for the goose is good for the gander, or at least it should be. This is a classic case of do as I say not as I do. xxx

so what service is the HT providing to you?

Faster none right now, but in the future I hope my children will attend a school where they will be taught respect by example among a great many other things in an efficient school that is managed well. The specifics of who does what exactly, I may never know, but that is what I would like to have provided to my children.

I would like to know a teacher is absent for x reason (a generic explanation)

Tough - it's none of your business.

So what says that this respect and efficiency cannot be maintained if the HT is absent for a couple of days, either on holiday to compensate for the fact that s/he has had to devote the normal holidays to
running the school, or for personal health or family reasons which will have been explained in the proper quarters?

As the parent of a vulnerable child, I would be horrified at the idea that her situation has to be shared with gossiping parents at the school gates. So I certainly wouldn't want that rule introduced for teachers with the motivation that everybody gets to know that about pupils. No they bloody don't and they bloody shouldn't. Schools treat information about both staff and pupils as confidential. Long may it last!

I amazed at the number of posters that seem to think they have a right to a teacher's personal information just because they are a "public servant". Do we expect the same information about health workers who are off work? And police, firemen, job centre workers, etc. ?
And using the "it's rules for the kids to disclose personal information to the head, so EVERY parent has the right to know" is bull!

I am not I

lisbeth- why is knowing the HT has say a medical problem or attended a funeral of a loved one, relevant to them showing you respect?

its not your business.

Personally, I find a school that treats both pupils and staff with respect and respects confidentiality is a school that I feel very safe with.

C999875. RTFT. HTH

lisbeth - your boss CAN insist that you arrive at work on time, and could start disciplinary proceedings against you if you were late repeatedly.
It would be up to the governors to discipline a head if they were "late" to work each day. (But we are all clever enough to know that just because our head is not at her desk, it doesn't mean she's not working, aren't we...?)

...For example, I get emails from my head late into the evening, she is back answering emails from 6am the following day from home.

I have to be in school on time, as if not my class would not be taught.
Her location is not critical at all - I don't care if she's at her desk by 8am. When she's out the deputy takes over being 'in command' when needed and the head is usually contactable by phone/email anyway.

When a close relative died I had time off. I asked my boss not to tell anyone, either say I was off sick or on holiday. It was much easier knowing I'd be returning to "are you feeling better" or "did you have a good holiday", both of which I could give a nice concise "Yes thank you". Sympathy and comments about the bereavment would have just disolved me into tears each time someone commented (as I knew from the death of my FIL), so it meant I could return to work and just get on with the job. We decided on tonsillitis as the excuse so I just said "Yes thank you it's good to get my voice back" to the few people who had been given ANY information as to why I was away. Felt awful lying to them, but there was a reason and it was MY PRIVATE LIFE! Surely teachers have a right to that as well.

YABU.

It's none of your business. He's an employee who does a job, you have no stake in his personal movements.