Head of school I work for wants me to do cleaning to make up hours I can't do at mo

[babayjane67]

Hi all!
Sorry the titles bit long but couldn't think of a shorter one!
I work as a lunch time supervisor at my DDS school.we both went bk 3 wks ago as she's in yr6.i look after both her class bubbles,which is nearly the whole class of 29.
Anyway in normal times,I also do the breakfast club every day but obviously at the moment that's not possible.
When I went into work on Tues,the head caught me&said they're wanting to get everybody bk into school to make up for the hrs they're not working.one of the breakfast club girls is shielding so can't come bk but he's apparently talking to her about how it's going to work in September.
The other girl is coming bk on Mon being a lunch time supervisor for a new key worker kids bubble that will start.
He wants me to clean to make mine up.so all light switches,door handles,sinks in classrooms& toilets &all toilet seats throughout the school.desks too I think.
He said think about it&let me know tomorrow I'll come&find u.well he didn't though I did see him wandering round on Wed.i wasn't in yesterday as I've got a nasty ear infection at mo.we don't work Fridays as the kids only do half day so that a deep clean can be done of the school each week.
This morning I get an email detailing my cleaning schedule starting Mon&saying what equipment I will be using etc.not asking me if I wanna do it/have I thought about it&made a decision.no just this is yr schedule starting Mon let us know what side if the lunch time you want to do it.
I've got nothing against cleaning,I've been one as a job in the past.so I haven't got a problem with doing it as a job but I don't want to do it as fir a start I get asthma so that's why he said fir me to work with yr6 not the younger ones,as they can social distance better&they understand more.plus I really don't want to be cleaning their loo seats etc.Im not dealing with any little ones at mo in any capacity.ive got 2 GC the youngest being 4&I've had to keep away from them as he's got a low immune system as well as me with my asthma so I don't want to then be dealing with stuff like that where everyone sits,touches things&risk passing anything on.
My dp isn't happy about me doing either fir the same reasons&said he would have told the head no straight away!
I haven't replied to the email yet.
Aibu?

Echt thankyou.

So for the past few months you've been paid all your hours but not expected to work them? Did you volunteer to do alternative work around the school or just take the pay no questions asked?

I would say you should get on with the work and think yourself very lucky, many people have worked throughout the pandemic and no pay for free. If you make a fuss you will be making the heads life even harder, headteachers have had a very difficult time the last few months and he is bound to have worked all his paid hours and more.

Buzz none of us were working til the rules changed to let R Yr1&yr6 back to school.
Some of the TAs were working as were some of the teachers,because of the key worker kids which were not very many,but not all.
No I didn't volunteer to work in school neither did anyone else.we were not allowed back until the R yr1&yr6 were allowed back.
They staggered the intake at our school.so R started the 1st June,Yr1 the following wk then yr6 the wk after that.
I started bk with yr6,my dd is in yr6&I work with them as the head didn't want me to be with the little ones due to my asthma&I didn't want to be.
But now it seems it's fine fir me to be cleaning toilets!
I've already said what I've done through lockdown when I wasn't working upthread so I'm not gonna go through that again just because people can't be bothered to read the thread properly!

The head,the deputy head &the yr6 teacher all took it in turns,each week,to be the head.they were not all there all the time.
All us lunch break supervisors & breakfast club supervisors were furloughed with full pay.same as the teachers &TAs that were off school too.

I would say you should get on with the work and think yourself very lucky

Pueleeeze...lets' not go there with this arse-kissing gratitude. These are people's jobs. This is exactly the narrative a certain kind of employer wants: here's a shit sandwich.....hmmmm nice.

many people have worked throughout the pandemic and no pay for free

And they would be ........?

Community volunteers ?!

As I've said already upthread,please read it!!,I helped a charity&a our local food bank through lockdown.
Nobody's winning a bloody medal for anything they're doing/have done through lockdown except for people working for the fantastic NHS!!(well they should!!)
Both my dp &elder DD have worked all through the lockdown.both doing very different jobs NOT working from home but out there every day.
My dp has had different things given to him from his employer &got free sandwiches&drinks on his travels(he's a delivery driver)
My dd on the other hand has had nothing!
Some of us have HAD to work&some of us HAVENT!
Just get over that bit please people!!

Light switches, door handles and desks. All fine.

Cleaning the toilets. Not ok.

Also bear in mind that when austerity comes there will be job cuts. By showing willing you will make sure your position is safe.

Really, really not that simple!

Thankyou Dieu!

Really, really not that simple!

Indeed, people seem to think that redundancy is based on how much bowing and scraping you do - it doesn’t work in that manner

The job is redundant - not the person

Oh for goodness sake.

You've been furloughed on full pay this whole time.

Cleaning toilets will not put you at additional risk, the virus doesn't have wings.

It's time to do your bit OP.

How was it in the end? Did you do the cleaning with your wipes?

Amazing grace I go back in tomorrow as still getting over the ear infection.

All us lunch break supervisors & breakfast club supervisors were furloughed with full pay.same as the teachers &TAs that were off school too.

Teachers and TAs will not have been furloughed. The teachers that were not physically in school should still have been working, providing work for the children at home.

@babayjane67

Chocolate I'm employed by the council as we all are that work in the school,apart from kitchen staff. I'm not being precious,as I said before I've had cleaning jobs.theres nothing wrong with that.I just dont see how whoever's been doing it fir the last 3 months can't continue seeing as I don't wanna be mixing with anything that the little ones have touched etc.im afraid I won't be able to see my GC as it'll put me bk iyswim because he's got low immune system already.

What you will be doing is on top of what the cleaner is doing probably.

At dp's school the cleaners can't do their job until the children leave so they don't start until later in the day which means they won't be around to do the lighter touch point cleaning which does need done regularly due to the volume of touching that will happen.
The cleaners will come in at the end of the day as they always have but they will be doing deep cleans and other extra things on top of the stuff they always did before all this so their hours are not shorter (infact they are trying to fit extra work into their original hours) so none of them can come in early to do touch cleaning on top.

In his school the kitchen staff can't go back in a safe way so they have been asked to come in and do touch cleaning etc so they have the opportunity to come back to work and earn a wage as furlough is dramatically decreasing over the next few months.

I meant to add if you are using the appropriate cleaning (as simple as hot soapy water which breaks down the sack of the virus to particular chemicals) and you are not touching your face and washing your hands then you are not at any higher risk than anyone else. Even without ppeespecially gloves as they have been found to give a false sense of security and hand washing tends to decrease. A visor might be handy though but likely not needed except that it adds a barrier between your hand and face.

Of course if you are wiping a surface that someone has just coughed on then scratching your face without washing your hands then you're obviously putting yourself at risk.

Artie at out school some of the TAs were furloughed.not all but some.a couple of them only went back when I did.
Our teachers were putting work on the class Dojo through Lockdown but the kids didn't HAVE to do it&they weren't marking it.thry were giving house points to any of the kids that did any of it &that also shared things they'd done at home like baking cakes,making homemade stuff,collecting things on their walks etc.school work wasn't pushed.
I went bk in today&it was ok.the head wasn't there.the deputy head was floating around but only saw him once.
They gave me spray&a cloth first but after I'd done one lot of toilets I said I thought wipes would be better as otherwise I'd be using one cloth fir everything which didn't seem right! I hope whoever was doing it before wasn't doing that!!
Anyway I used the wipes after that&it was ok.the little ones were wandering round the class,a few of them anyway&it was hard to keep social distance but I just chatted to them as normal &got on with it.
It was nice to see them actually&to talk to some of the staff too.
They all asked what I was doing&why!lol nobody seemed to know I was gonna be doing it.
A couple of them thanked me for doing it which was nice.
Not that I need thanking,it was just nice.

I used to do school payrolls years ago and some staff were lunchtime supervisors aswell as doing cleaning but they were two separate jobs with separate contracts detailing hours and hourly rates

@ivykaty44

Really, really not that simple!

Indeed, people seem to think that redundancy is based on how much bowing and scraping you do - it doesn’t work in that manner

The job is redundant - not the person

If you have five mds and need four and four are prepared to go that extra mile whereas one is only prepared to do what is in the job description and no more then choosing one for redundancy is much easier.

I think a bit of light cleaning as part of the job is fine, but I wouldn't classify cleaning toilets as light cleaning. Everyone needs to pull together, sure, but this doesn't involve being a dogsbody who has to do absolutely anything for your already low-paid job. The first post was right, get union advice.

How is spritzing taps and putting a disposable cloth over a toilet seat and door handles not light cleaning?

All staff are doing this in our school. It couldn’t open without it.

Are posters seriously saying all school staff shouldn’t be doing the necessary light cleaning for schools to open and schools need to stay shut?

If you have five mds and need four and four are prepared to go that extra mile whereas one is only prepared to do what is in the job description and no more then choosing one for redundancy is much easier.

Those 5 all have to be at risk of losing their jobs, all have to be given letters, have the redundancy meeting etc and so the one you want to keep, that works really hard... they go and get another job

Leaving 4 people and 4 jobs

Hi there. I'm a Teaching Partner in a Primary School & I did a variety of work from home throughout lockdown - some weeks I was up to & over my contracted hours, some not. We've been back fully since 1st June & it's a case of 'all hands on deck' with everything that needs doing as we're spread so thin with the adult to children ratio from managing so many bubbles as well as continuing key worker childcare, plus we have a few people who are still shielding &/or pregnant. I've happily been cleaning as required throughout the day BUT I think I'd draw the line at the actual toilets themselves - sink area/taps are fine, but there's no need to do toilet seats if the children are being supervised correctly & ALWAYS washing their hands properly after they've been. The usual cleaning team in our school are handling the toilets as part of their slightly adjusted new regime. So, in answer to your question, to be fair, I think being asked to do light anti-baccing around the place is a perfectly reasonable request to make up your hours but not deep cleaning the actual toilets themselves.

Putting a disposable wipe with cleaner over a toilet seat is not deep cleaning.

How do you properly supervise children going to the toilet without invading privacy.

And is it really ok for children to come and sit on seats with wee and germs on from the previous occupants hands who may well have been in another bubble?

Schools can’t afford a cleaner per bubble. We do a quick wipe of seats and door handles with a tap spritz each time our bubble children go to the toilet. We gave allocated times per bubble and do it at the end of that time alongside at times individual children can’t wait.

It takes a couple of minutes.Not hard.

Thanks for all yr replies!
I'm still not really happy about having to do the toilets &urinals but am just getting on with it.it is only for 6 more days(hopefully come September,when breakfast club is back,I won't have to do that anymore.I will have something to say about it if I do!)
It took me about 45 minutes to do it all&thankfully I don't have to do the men's toilets!!lol