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? 🤪

Mixedbags Your opening post was at 5.05pm. You then followed up with lunchtime posts. Are you a healthcare professional? Or do you work in an office? And it’s nice you can enjoy a lunch break- ask teachers about that. Furthermore, spending your lunch break being poisonous? It doesn’t really matter whether your children are at home or at school- their ultimate role model is you. What a bloody shame.

Do your children have 100% attendance? 2 days is not going to be hugely detrimental to them.
If they are not yet able to study independently it does not bode well for their results anyway. They need to show some initiative!
Seneca learning is a great, free revision website that covers several subjects.
Primrose Kitten - see YouTube & Google her - does great, free Science stuff.
I would be astounded if the school has not provided any revision guides for their students or pointed them in the direction of helpful websites.
Yes I'm a teacher.
No, I haven't had a 'snow day'
No, I'm not going to risk life and limb getting into work in adverse conditions.

I really wish people would stop and think then maybe they would just realise how hard teachers do actually work and what goes into keeping a school a safe environment. I work in a large primary school, im not a teacher, part of my role includes opening the school (first one on site) and making sure it is safe for staff and pupils. We live in an area where we dont get snow because there is too.much salt in the air but, the sleet and rain mixed with minus temps turn the roads and pavements around here in to an ice rink! In 30+year i have only ever seen 4 roads in our town get gritted and the villages and connecting roads have never been done to my knowledge.
One of My colleagues who live less than 3 miles away had alot of snow and the only direct road out of their area was covered in thick black ice, badly lit and not on a regular bus route, the road is impossible to walk down and is bad enough in good.weather. The other road out of there is a mixture of the same plus a 45min detour through 4 other villages. Both roads are regular crash sites. I would rather she didnt risk herself attempting to make the journey.
To keep the school open and make it safe i have used 20 x 25kg bags of grit A DAY. I have gone in to work over an hour early (luckily i live on the same street) to defrost the locks on the gates so i can open them, (had to take a lighter to several locks as they were frozen solid and antifreeze spray wasnt working!) grit and salt the play grounds and walkways and all 3 entrances and paths - by closing one entrance it adds at least 10mins to the next one on foot so quite keen to keep them all open and not piss of the 200+ parents/pupils that would have to walk around to the next entrance! And even though it is a new build with quite a good heating system the temps are alot lower than we are used to and i've had to turn the heating up and keep it on longer than usual to maintain an acceptable heat level. Where do you think the money cones from to
1, pay me to go in early to do the extra work.
2. Pay for the masive amount of grit used on a daily basis

1. Pay for the excess on the heating bill?

Then to top it off we have had food deliveries cancelled because they can't get to us so the entire menu has had to be changed and luckily we had enough food in stock to keep us going with the help of a local supermarket! The primary school half a mile away had to close due to the heating packing up! So ask yourself, did your school open? Did your children get educated (even if not to your standard)?were they warm? And did they get fed? Yabu.

I've been a teacher and now teach as a hita.
Been teaching for almost 25 years.

I have to say that pupils, ime, are told why teachers are off sick. Not the details and sometimes not quite the truth (and sometimes not told at all if not appropriate) but in both the secondaries and the primary I've work in they've know if a teacher is off poorly, on a course, on ppa, etc. And yes - in heavy snow it's been known to say that x isn't here as they live a long way and the snow was bad so couldn't get in.

Dd is in sixth form and knows one of her teachers is off ill and has been since Christmas. This isn't unusual to be told ime.

Mixedbags, you do not know why any of those teachers were off. Even if the kids WERE told it was due to the weather, how do you know that’s the truth? It’s very common in schools for the kids to be given blanket statements about things when there’s no need for them to be told the nitty-gritty details.

Teachers take time off for any number of reasons: illness, bereavement, caring for a sick relative, professional development. Same as workers in any other industry. Their reasons for being off are none of your business. They are grown adults who will have weighed up the need to take time off and discussed it with their line manager. You claim to be a concerned parent, yet you are coming across as an ignorant, officious busybody who hates teachers and will say anything to put them down.

Teaching would be the best job in the world if not for people like you. And by the way, 8 teachers missing out of a staff of 60+ is not that unusual, snow or no snow.

My road was OK therefore all roads are OK

Our school was shut because the paths around it were too icy apparently

Aragog
The bit about them not always being told the truth is key.
I tell my students if i am missing their next lesson (if it's a pre planned abscence due to a course, meeting, appointment etc). It means I can set the cover up so they know exactly what they need to do. If I've been off, sometimes people have said 'Mrs Pops isn't well' and then my class have said 'she's out of school this morning'.
Equally, a friend had a hospital appointment when the snow hit so was absence. Someone joked about her being too soft to get in (knowing where she'd been), but someone could have gone saying 'I heard.... saying... came in at lunch due to snow. Some of us managed to get in on time'
It's why I still think it's wrong to get annoyed about people being off based on hear say.

Teachers these days often cannot afford to live near the schools at which they teach and live a long way away from the workplace. Some young teachers at my last school took two hours on public transport to get in in the morning.

The point is not how thin the snow was in your opinion. The change came when pupil teacher ratios were tightened up. In the days before health and safety regulations being paramount classes would be doubled up and /or put on in the hall or gym if teachers couldn’t get in or were much delayed. Now, this cannot happen and the head teacher has to make an early call about whether to open the school or not and it will only take a few key omissions in staff for the school day to be unviable.

Yesterday, I saw on Facebook a teacher friend was most upset about the snow day as he was losing a day’s pay.

Mixedbags I've read the whole post and can't believe an actual adult can be so narrow minded to what everyone is saying. You've repeated yourself over and over explaining these teachers we're not in due to snow and you know for a fact they could've made it in. Your children have been told it's the weather, but you've not considered what ANYONE has mentioned, when saying that they were probably told this, but could be (and probably is!) many other reasons! The person saying it's weather related probably didn't know the real reason. Why would your children be told the details anyway? Neither of you are entitled to these.

You need to wind your neck in, love.

You have absolutely no way of knowing EXACTLY why the teachers cannot get in, there can be a thousand different ways the snow can affect this. Furthermore, it drives me crazy that people are so judgemental and whiny about other people’s lives! Be grateful that all you have to worry about in your life is that your DC are missing a few days of school and enjoy it FFS!

I've just driven down through Surrey. The snow is very localised. One town was clear as I entered and like flipping Narnia as I came out.
And on a lane that looked clear, dd skidded right across the road.

I haven’t read through the entire thread because your arrogance and narrow minded comments pissed me off.

YABVU.

I think you are being ridiculously precious and need to get over it. Sorry if that’s harsh.

Get over it.

Really.

Try to put yourself in others shoes and be less self absorbed hey?

If people are expected to risk their lives to reach their jobs it seems unreasonable. If it's so vital your son doesn't miss stuff, he can always work a bit on his own.

Is the school a place for education or just a glorified childminder.

Several teachers missing lots of students missing this is going to make educating pupils difficult. How much educational progress is going to be made on a day when students and teachers are arriving late, leaving early or missing?

Or do you just want someone to mind your kids?

Or do you just want someone to mind your kids?

I sspect that’s what it boils down to!!

Not sure I understand the excuse of teachers not being able to get to work as they can’t afford to live anywhere near their school...where I live there is a school pretty much next door to an Aldi. School was closed (and reason listed on the council website was lack of staff) but Aldi was open and staffed as normal.

I’m assuming all the shop assistants who DID manage to get to work must be earning far more than the teachers? Unlikely.

Aldi had enough staff to run the business.

The school could probably have 'accommodated' the pupils but would not have been able to educate them.

Your kids, your responsibility, the school's role is to educate. If education wasn't possible you need to look after your children.

Dorsetdays

Why are you intend on making shit up looking for a causal between aldi workers and teachers?

Why are you so adamant that teachers should live close to were they work?

dorset
You make zero sense.

People choose where to live based on a range of factors.
I could afford to live in catchment now for my school but couldn't as an NQT.
Friends do a long commute as it's half way between their job and their DH. Others do a longer commute to be near their parents who help with childcare. Others have moved schools a few times and don't fancy moving house every time they get a new job just in case some jobsworth wants to draw odd comparisons to Aldi for whatever reason.
It's a bit oddly invested to care so much about where total strangers choose to live.

I highly doubt anybody commutes over an hour to work in Aldi. As has been noted on here, most teachers prefer to live far away from their place of work.

For reasons ironically being made very clear on this thread.

I would also wager that Aldi workers, as well as generally living closer to work than teachers, are in a more precarious employment situation than teachers, and are thus more likely to travel in dangerous conditions to get to work.

My DP has been travelling in bad conditions to work all week because he could lose his job otherwise. I'd rather he be able to stay off, and am glad teachers, a valuable resource, are able to do so when necessary.

Enough of you have said that teachers can’t possibly get to work in bad weather because they can’t afford to live near their schools. RTFT and you’ll see those stating that.

Now I understand that might well be the case.

However, my point is that if other (low-ish) paid people can get to work right next door to the school then either they can afford to live there (which would mean they are paid more than teachers) or MAYBE the weather wasn’t bad enough to stop them getting through when they also had to commute from a distance that was affordable.

If you don’t get that then perhaps your blindness at defending every single teacher as being 100% the most committed and hard working employees without exception is clouding your view.

Teachers are no different to any other profession. There are great ones and there are some that will use any excuse to skive off.

dorset
And you know the financial situation of each household of anyone who lives near a school now?
Clutching at straws a bit here.

At the heart of the OP is 'some gossip says 8 teachers were absent due to snow but I don't think there was any snow so I'm annoyed my child couldn't manage a couple of hours in a supply lesson'.
Somehow, people living fuether away has turned into a truly bizarre hypothetical exploration of hypothetical strangers' finances and living situation.

Maybe Aldi workers live with their parents, or do it as an additional job, or are students in shared digs. Maybe a similar % of Aldi workers couldn't make it in, but Aldi can run on a skeleton staff where a school can't, or have somebody who can swap shifts with somebody else stranded.