To think 'snow days' are pathetic

[Toddlerteaplease]

I understand if you live very rurally and genuinely can't get out. But snow in cities is rarely that bad. NHS staff don't take days off for a bit of snow. Last time we had severe snow. Not one person on my entire unit missed work. Even though schools were closed.

Also, many small school don't have caretakers so can't make the site safe. Think paths into and around school.

@1066

of course you wouldn't get sued if someone got injured getting into work.

I understand that it's frustrating for working parents who then need to find child care but I'm sorry, if it is dangerous I am not risking mine or my child's life to get to work. No point putting the nhs under more pressure than it already is by me having a car crash eh?

Our local school closes usually because we do cop it for snow here being higher up.... however because the estate we are on is still being built and therefore not council owned the roads locally don’t get gritted and are often pretty bad!

I think that being judgemental and unkind and calling people and situations that you do not have information about 'pathetic' is pathetic and a sign of an over inflated sense of self-importance.

The NHS here had to rent land rovers to get staff to emergencies last year as the ambulances couldn’t get around it wasn’t safe to go out so no they aren’t pathetic at all

My kids old school closed last year so all the kids went to McDonald's it seemed (dd works there) there was barely a sprinkling of snow, my windscreen wipers dealt with it. I have no issues with closing for genuine bad weather but a minor sprinkle when buses are still running is ridiculous - the private nurseries all opened!

Yes the school where I work tends to work off what the bus services are doing. If the buses are off school closes.

OP states the NHS don’t take a day off for some snow - March 2006 DD born on the Saturday night and I’m placed in the bed nearest nurses station. 6am the phones start ringing - none of the morning shift can get into work as the snow is that bad, night shift stay on as they can’t get home as car parks not cleared and roads not clear. Eventually some staff get in to relieve them. I was the only one with a visitor that day as we live in the shadow of the hospital - no one else partners could make it in to see them

I live in the Basingstoke area.

Yesterday was a nightmare.

Families were stuck for hours on end.

It got very bad very quickly.

It took my mum 15mins to get to my place and then within an hour it got so bad it took us 4hours (7/8 miles) to get back. I had a 5 month old baby with us who needed feeding TWICE. I'd only made up one bottle, had to get out get hot water but if we weren't by a Costa/McDonald's I would have had a very distressed baby for a very long time.

About half an hour after into getting the car my work told me not to bother coming in, bit lateti turn around! We were on my way to my mums as she has my little girl during my evening hours/nights.

We left about 2/2.5hrs before rush hour starts, nevermind school run time, so no Inl don't think snow days are 'pathetic'. Holy shit if there was school run traffic and normal rush hour I can't even begin to think about what the roads would have been like.

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I live near Basingstoke, yesterday the entire town was cut off, thankfully most the schools closed, but some nurseries opened and there were parents unable to collect their kids because there was no way of getting to them.

Teachers generally live away from the school they teach in and so often it’s difficult in the snow to get enough staff in to look after the kids.

In this country we don’t get enough snow to be prepared for it. Obviously when lives are at stake people will go the extra mile, thankfully. But school is not life or death.

Schools only close if it's really bad. They close because the council makes the decision that a reasonable number of staff won't be able to get in safely.

Basingstoke area here too - was v glad schools closed, DH left work at 12.30 (10 miles away) to get back as I was going to work in the afternoon. He didn’t get home until 5, even that was by parking his car (off the road not abandoned) and walking the last half hour. Kids being home meant that they were safe indoors and they called me at work to ask if they could take some cash to buy pizza from the corner shop for their dinner.

I am from the era where nothing closed for snow. We all crawled/struggled/walked/whatever in. Now I wonder, what for?

I'm mid 50s now and will never risk life or limb trying to get to work. Why would I, what's the point? My kids' schools prided themselves on staying open in the worst of weather. I always got them there. I got stuck once coming home from work when snow fell quickly. A half hour journey turned into 4 hours of hell. I vowed never again after that. Life is too short.

I’m an NHS worker and a single parent with no family living near by, if school have a snow day how would you suggest I am less pathetic?
Should I take my 3 children in work and get them doing observations and meds rounds with me?

Our school didn’t close Friday nor close early. They have closed once in 50 years for snow. Friday resulted in a lot of parents being stuck for hours as the snow hit heavy on already snowy roads just before pickup time. This then puts emergency services under extra duress, people in dangerous situations, huge expense to insurance companies and genuine emergencies are delayed for help. Snow days might sometimes be pathetic but sometimes they are necessary. It’s so effing rare ..and it’s fun! We don’t have heated pavements, massive snow ploughs, snow chains on cars... we don’t cope well. I live surrounded by huge hills... snow isn’t easy to get on with things! Pathetic as it seems OP!

Did the snow make taking her bag in an impossibility then?

Yeah Oneof that happened 🙄

Why is it they whenever schools close people start banging on about nhs staff? What on earth do nhs staff have to do with teachers? Nothing.

"People who travel when it's dangerous to do so and for whom it isn't absolutely essential to get to work often cause major problems on the roads."

People probably in fear of losing their jobs or getting a sanction if they are a working claimant claiming UC.

Its what people voted for!

Unless you have a job that is really urgent, like emergency services, then I don't see what the big deal is.

If it isn't necessary for loads of people to be travelling via strained/limited service public transport and driving on icy roads then why force it?

Life is short.

Head teachers cannot run a school on a complement of too few staff and many teachers cannot afford to live near the schools at which they teach. Blame pupil teacher ratios, regulation and health and safety rules, risk assessments and avoiding insurance claims, not the heads or teachers. The days of crowding a hundred kids into the hall to sing Kumbaya on a snowy day are long gone.

No wonder snow days cause such angst as they are the ultimate clash of nature and reality: the snow ; and admin and bureaucracy: the rules and regulations.

If the roads are already bad and more snow is forecast snow days are absolutely necessary
You don’t want the kids being trapped at school do you?