To be disappointed that my children’s teachers have not come into school?

[Mixedbags]

My teenagers are at secondary school in crucial years. They have said that the last 2days many teachers have not come in due to snow and the supply teachers have not been very effective. The snow fall here and within a 60mile radius (relatives and friends all over) has been close to non existent. What example does this send to our children? Snowflakes? 🤪

I think you ABU. You don't know where the teachers live (not just the area but is it a flat ir hilly road? On Weds this week, our road was ok but a friend's road a mere half mile away was dangerous) and the personal circumstances. Teachers are also human. As others said if it's a year 11 or 13 teenager, he/she should be able to do some independent revision. It is a good idea anyway to get revision books to make sure all topics are covered and also helps with topics they don't fully understand. They can get lots of revision help on-line too

People can die in cars.

I just told dd, "come home if roads are too bad. We can anything except if you're dead."

I wasnt joking. OP, if your dc can't handle 2 days of slacking teachers, they aren't going to do well in life...or your expectations of their life.

"We can fix anything except 'dead.'"

I agree! My children were sent home at 12.30pm on Thursday not a single snowflake fell absolutely no snow only on mountains. Last night we had snow and school was closed even though roads were ok by 10.30am they were completely clear . I think the teachers and local authority staff are complete snowflakes!

Last winter my Dd1 was in year 11. The school was closed for a week. She got on with her own revision and towards the end of the week the teachers sent work via email, her grades were not affected.
Some teachers live quite a distance from school and have their own problems either getting in or getting home if snow continues to fall. Just tell your children to get on with their own revision. There are also lots of websites they can go on for any help needed. It’s for a few days at most. It’s not the end of the world.

I work in a hospital where most staff made it in. A handful live in middle of nowhere type places but overall there was little excuse. Someone who lives about 5 minutes walk from my house said she couldn't get in. We were all WTF?! Roads were clear and not icy so 4x4s not even needed. Some people are pathetic and interestingly we could have written a list from last March as to which staff would be demanding free 4x4 pick up. (Last March I walked 45 minutes in thick snow to get to work).

I'm proud to be resilient and able to function independently

Yes we know there’s no snow there OP . But there may be where teachers live. Also, I was a chair of governors for several years. It was my decision not the teachers . The site may be unsafe for many reasons . I emailed my son’s school today to thank them for putting Safety first and shutting. I then sat and did work with him . It’s parenting .

YABU.

Comparing this to doctors and asking how we’d feel if our sick children weren’t seen is just silly. Doctors are people too bad they’re worth more alive and well than they are wrapped around a lamppost in a car.

I had a much anticipated GP appointment cancelled last week due to staffing issues. If I was relying on one doctor being there at an appointed time, it wouldn’t be life or death.

Your children may be at a crucial point in their school career but as a previous poster has said, they are old enough to get on with revision, etc.

This is the real world OP, people get sick, stuck in traffic, snowed in, any number of reasons for not turning up for work.

HOWEVER, and this is a whole new thread, there is a winter every single year!! Why are we not preparing for it better?

Yet again another mumsnetter can't believe everyone's life isn't exactly like theirs!! Too much.

How many GPs does it take to run a surgery? How many teachers does it take to make sure a school is safe to open and effective teaching can be put in place?
Totally different contexts - please don’t compare the two.

If the school did open and a child /parent/teacher was hurt or injured whilst trying to get there, I wonder who would be blamed then? Oh yes, the school. They’re damned if they decide to open...and they’re damned if they don’t!

Why is it teachers who get annihilated every time it snows? No one gives a fuck if anyone else goes to work or not. People think they're entitled to whinge about it and have an opinion because they view school as childcare. Sorry, but it's not.
And it's not even teachers who make the decision to close the schools, so fuck off with your "lazy/can't be arsed" cliches.

I think the school should pay every parent £50 for every day the school is closed. It’s only fair considering parents get fined for everyday a child is taken out of school.
Well that poster wins the prize for the most fucking ridiculous comment of the decade so far.

Even if there isn't snow there can be ice/black ice in these low temperatures which is v v dangerous.

A friend of mine whoes a head spoke to.me about this post and her words are if only people knew how difficult it is to close a school down its more hassle than its worth and shes happy that shell be retiring soon .
She says shes sick of the way teachers are spoken off .
I think shed had a bad day her school was not shut but there were lots of staff out as most live far away some came in very late she said she shouldnt have opened the school but waa worried for the parents who had to get to work and by the way she and the SKT slept in the school overnight

SLT

Another post that attacks teachers. Yawn Yawn. Firstly don’t believe everything children tell you. Two absence may not all be down to snow. Teachers could be ill or on courses. Thirdly they opened even with staff shortages so clearly value the children education. How many medical establishments did you visit that day to know they were fully staffed? Lots of people may have struggled to get to work that day but it is always teachers that get the backlash. I don’t see plumbers, electricians who cancel jobs getting the same vitrol.

2 GPs didn’t turn up to our docs surgery this week due to snow. Maybe teachers had to look after their own kids if schools closed etc. I’m sure they would turn up if they could!!

This is the second thread today criticising teachers re: snow.
No wonder there's a recruitment and retention crisis. Just stop the ridiculous generalised criticism.

We have a badass school that has only ever closed for a broken down boiler in this weather. I took a walk in the park after I dropped them off, sad that my kids couldn’t enjoy a rare snow day off school...

I agree that the teacher bashing needs to stop. I’m a teacher and I cannot tell you how demoralising it is to read stuff like ‘teachers should be fined’. Ffs - I went to work today all day and did a full 9-6 on my day off to get ready for something needed for next week. I am usually part time. If it snows and we get a snow day it will be because teachers cannot get in from wherever they are. End of.

Am beginning to feel sorry for the OP - her comprehension levels are actually quite shocking. She cannot apparently entertain the fact that it is possible not all of the 8 teachers were off due to snow, neither can she entertain the fact that the weather/conditions where the teachers live could feasibly be different to her locale...

Where I live has had snow and schools are open but less than an hour away into the rural countryside the high school is closed and the school transport has been cancelled. Just because your town is clear it doesn’t mean others nearby are too. I could easily imagine teachers from that snowy town would commute this way and vice versa so totally understand if they can’t get in. They could also have children of their own in the snowy village who have to be kept off.

I work in an sen school and we’ve been told if we can’t get our car out then to find another way in. This isn’t helpful to those of us who don’t have another way in it who have to look after children.

Those teachers could also be actually off sick and just coincidence that is during the snow.

I think the teachers and local authority staff are complete snowflakes!

You are talking about a school that was closing early and a day when school was closed. The teachers do NOT make this decision. The headteacher may do, based information they are given. In our case it involves speaking with other local schools, the rest of SMT, the caretaker who lives on site, official advice from the road traffic police, where appropriate , the bus news and the LEA. She does ask us to let her know what time, if we can get in, we can get there for. he then makes the decision based on that.

So, in the situation you are talking about above this is NOT the teachers making the choices.

Please don’t be disappointed, get used to it.....
I live in a village and there are quite a few teachers, mainly secondary and honestly from the conversations I have been involved in, it’s any excuse not to go to work. They even know how to buck the system for sick days as well.
I’ll give you an example:
If your I’ll and can’t go to work, make sure you rock up for the last day of term that way they the term holiday won’t be counted as sick....!!!

I’ve know them take weeks off work because of ill health, up until the last day of term, then go in for the last day Friday , then go on holiday on the Saturday, laughable.... could you image doing that in the private sector.
They also moan about the hours they work 40 to 50 a week ( their contracted for 32 hours a week 13 weeks holiday a year)

I’ve often wonder if they actually did a 40 hour and only had 8 weeks holiday what on earth they would do in that 40 hours.

Teachers , bless em have near really left school and entered the real work of work. So sorry get used to being disappointed.

Mixedbags. As a HT, allow me to explain to you.
1 teachers do not make the decision to close a school, the HT does in conjunction with the chair of Governors.

1. When making that decision we Heads have to take all sorts of th8ngs into account because of H+S legislation ( which we didn’t write btw). Are enough staff able to come in to safely supervise, are pathways, yards safe for staff, pupils, parents; are the roads, pavements leading to the school safe for staff, pupils, parents, is the cook able to get in, because if not no food can be provided, what is the forecast like, I.e. if we’d open, will it be safe for everyone all day, or will we have to close partway through the day and have to contact school buses/ all parents etc to collect their children. This last is far more difficult to deal with than closing first thing. (This is where our extensive training in foreseeing the future comes in handy). I am ina WhatsApp group with other local HTs so that we can decide together and I can tell you that we were in contact with each other and caretakers from 5am today. The decision to close is not taken lightly. And no, if any stranger turned up at my door say8ng they were a teacher and ready to teach, I’m afraid I would turn them away. I do not know them, staff do not know them, pupils do not know them, I have no proof that they are a teacher, and no access to DBS information. It would be an extremely serious safeguarding issue.

We did open today, despite roads where I live (abt 20mins from school) being treacherous. The school locality had no snow or ice. 5other local school, closed because it was too dangerous. Finally, we are acutely aware that whatever we do will be criticised by those like yourself who have no understanding whatsoever of the reality of the school’s situation. We stayed open yesterday and it started to sleet at home time, so had a complaint from a parent wanting to know why we Had not closed at lunchtime.

Lovely and goady sunny.
These threads really do bring out the hilariously goady posters.
It must be bizarre being so bitter about hypothetical people in a diverse line of work that there's the need to make ludicrous sweeping statements online.