to think headteachers can't win?

[DrSeuss]

I'm a teacher. We are closed today for a snow day. Cue massive whinging from some parents about childcare and lack of notice as 7.15 am was apparently too late. To access the website, the Deputy Head needs to be on site so will have had to drive fifteen miles to put the notice up. God alone knows what time he left home.

My daughter's school is open. Cue massive whinging from some parents about Health and Safety/Let Kids be Kids. OK, some of the parents live a few miles away and may not be able to drive in so their kids will miss a day. However, the two Prime Whingers on the school's FB page live around three hundred yards from the gates! The school asked us all by email last night to send clothes suitable for playing outside today in a scheduled session this afternoon.

For the record, we have 10 cm of snow max, we are in the suburbs in a fairly affluent area where most people have cars. If we had more snow or lived in the country that would be different.

Heads can't really win. Close, open. It never suits. Wonder why so many teachers quit?

If your headmaster can drive 15 miles to access the website then the roads are drivable

Hmmm-the roads here were utterly horrendous yesterday-cars abandoned, lorries jack-knifed, skids and accidents all across the town. Today-there is actually worse weather but virtually every school is shut so the volume of traffic is a tiny fraction of what it is usually; the roads are clear and the town isn’t gridlocked.

Just because one head can conceivably drive in to check a website (though surely that can be done remotely??), it doesn’t mean that the roads would be anywhere near as good if all of the schools were open and hundreds more cars were on the road between 8-9.

The problem is that there is a snowball effect, no pun intended.

The head teacher can't get to school and closes it. That means the parents have to stay home to mind their children, and those same parents may be staff at another school which forces that school to close.

The train driver can't go to work because his kids' school is closed. That means some other teachers can't get to their school either.

The real issue here is that we all live so far away from our family and friend networks where we could take turns or beg favours from family.

I agree that the schools can't win at all.

Schools are not like other businesses and services so don't compare -

the logistics of managing staff, providing a service, negotiating bad weather and notifying others - are shared with lots of services and businesses. My DSIS is a HT. But she also had a career before becoming a teacher. ime it's only teachers who have never worked outside of a school environment who take it as a personal affront if their decisions are questioned.

TBQH, in this day and age, I would expect that Headteachers would be able to remotely access their work email accounts from home. It is totally ridiculous that in the 21st Century communication seems to rely on the Head being in the building. Why not give the school caretaker emergency emailing powers/authorisation in just such a scenario?

It didn't bother me one way or another whether the DC went to school or not this morning. However, it did bother me that both might have to do unnecessary (and relatively long) journeys on foot/public transport only to be sent home again. We had this scenario on more than one occasion when they were at primary school - really helpful for families who lived a considerable distance away (including us!).

I think for secondary school aged DC, particularly when it is relatively usual for them to be setting off well before 8am, it's only really polite that the schools get a message to the pupils and parents ASAP. And preferably before their usual departure time.

Married3Children, let’s follow the logic here then.

Teachers can only accept jobs within walking distance (where I am the roads are impassable. Not super rural, village.)
Schools can only open in areas where enough people who live within walking distance want to be teachers.
If a teacher moves house (marriage, needs more room, just fancies a different home) they have to immediately leave job. School has to find another walking-distance teacher.
Teachers are tied to their walking distance school, so cannot choose their school. Also have to leave (and presumably move house) if they would like to progress/ work somewhere else.

Sounds great.

I think we are very lucky that our school has opened when most round here are shut. They have quite a few teachers who live in walking distance though which makes it easier. They also work hard at it as lots of.parents at the school (a disproportionate number) are nursing staff so shutting the school will have knock on effects. I am very grateful to them as I can't get to work so am having to work from home. But there are some out there that will whinge whatever the school does!

There is the possibility that the HT has to access a closed network so would need to be in school in order to send a message.

Remote access is tricky if you work with exotic protectively marked data, or with potentially dangerous critical national infrastructure. For anything else? What on earth is a school doing which makes remote access difficult?

I thought exactly the same this morning op. Whatever they do people will whine at them.

I know people in management in other public sector areas who have remote access,so why not HTs?

kate many teachers work in other sectors before entering education and are also parents and even just possibly maybe know/live with people who work in other sectors. They are not living in a bubble.
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Yes, I have heard other business and services employ staff. Up until this point I thought it was just a rumour. However, not many have the same responsibilities and legal duties as schools. If I take myself off to M&S right now, M&S don't have a requirement to make sure I get home safely.

I completely agree. It was the same with Glasgow City Council this morning. They announced just before 7 that all schools and nurseries would be closed today, cue the onslaught of moaning from people because it wasn't enough notice. Had they announced closures last night, they'd have been moaning it was too early since there wasn't much snow last night. Cannot win.

I agree that the Head can't please everybody.

But I've watched the teenagers who go to the school nearest us walk in this morning, through several inches of snow, to be sent home almost the moment they arrived. Some of the earlier arrivals were allowed in but then sent back out, others were being turned away at the gate.

And that school doesn't let them wear boots or coats, they were in ordinary shoes and blazers.

I don't think that's fair and the school should have cancelled earlier.

DS's school were open, but have now sent a message to say they are closing at 12:45 as soon as lunch is over.

soap your completely spurious comparison with M&S makes me think you misunderstood my post. I made no comment on how many teachers worked in other sectors. But lots of not-for-profits; charities and businesses have vulnerable service users. They also have staff travelling between locations, etc.
My point remains, that they don't expect universal approval. They accept that making the correct decision sometimes upsets people. It's part of being a professional and taking responsibility.

Cuboid I'm not saying it's sensible. My previous LEA moved to an all cloud based email system for staff. Then decided that it might not be secure since many of the places they use to operate the cloud systems are abroad (I can't remember what they call the rooms with all the computers/servers in). So staff couldn't use email for anything really substantial and only HT could use the internal system at their desk.
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Schools and LEAs don't have the money to update anything.
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However, plenty of parent alert systems can be accessed remotely. Just maybe not the school website.

Someone has to physically enter the building to send the emails and texts and to get it up on the website.

This really is nuts, the IT needs to be sorted out as a priority.

kate I think the difference is, not all services are treated or viewed equally. Similar actions receive different reactions from the public.

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It isn't about wanting approval from everyone about a decision.

@Married3Children - at the school I used to work at, only the highest paid teachers could afford to live within walking distance of the school!

My previous LEA moved to an all cloud based email system for staff. Then decided that it might not be secure since many of the places they use to operate the cloud systems are abroad

"The LEA employs idiots to do its IT" is more succinct.

Message from DS's school at 7.15 to say they were shut. At that point my school was still planning to open so started trying to work out what to do with kids. Luckily word came through at 8 that we were shut too. Took DH an hour and a half to do a twenty-five minute journey to work so rather glad

I think your bigger problem is your IT dept.

To access the website, the Deputy Head needs to be on site so will have had to drive fifteen miles to put the notice up

Very crappy organisation of the website. I cannot believe this is the case.

cuboid I'm not going to disagree with you there.

I don’t mind open or close as I stay at home apart from some work where I can take my children. What did bother was the fact the school didn’t announce open or close till 8:20am by which point we where already on the way as we leave before 8am.

Schools Ive taught in do their very best to stay open, it is not a decision that is taken lightly.
I agree with the poster who said if schools gave reasons parents would be more understanding. For instance my grandsons school was closed a couple of years ago and his mum thought it was silly as the roads near the school were ok. When I pointed out that the staff were in the main not local, she totally got why the school was closed.

Well it’s not rocket science is it to think not all teachers cycle to work in their village like jean Brody! If parents can’t see that they are just thick.

If School is open parents should make sensible decisions for their own children to attend or to not. That’s called parenting.