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?

It is absolutely not the case that all asthmatics are vulnerable. Some are, some aren't. Your GP can advise (mine said I was fine to work in school with children - I have asked twice, as guidance has changed).

I work in a school and EVERYONE is taking their turns cleaning, delivering food, moving equipment, etc, etc.

OP I said earlier I thought YABU, just come back to read your updates. It seems as if you have already made up your mind that your not going to do it, so why bother starting a thread? Thank fuck me and my team who have worked throughout realise we all have to pitch in and do things we dont normally during this period.

I just don't get it OP.

I find it really hard to understand the mentality of not raising your concerns and just sitting on them-like you've done with the bubbles.

I also find it hard to understand from what you've said why you're reluctant to clean.

You've left it far too late now to have a reasonable discussion with your head about your concerns. He will need to find someone else last minute to do the cleaning if you refuse (which won't play in your favour).

I think your only options now (if you want to be seen as a team player) are to: -do it Monday having a discussion about your concerns after that, being clear on why you hadn't raised them before
-phone in sick
-"take you and your child out of school which you're 'allowed' to do" just to avoid having the conversation.

Do you have brittle asthma, *@babayjane67?

If you refuse to do it, which you seem to have made your mind up about, at least email your head now so he has time over the weekend to sort out any staffing issues that might arise because of this.

I see why you are concerned with your Asthma, but why on earth haven’t you just told him this? He’s clearly got a lot on his plate so missed talking to you about it on the Wednesday and then you were out sick so did the best he could considering it all starts on Monday. You need to get back to him ASAP to let him know you see it as too risky and explain why So you can work out a compromise and he can resign things.

He may have thought you were at more risk interacting more directly with children than cleaning surfaces (I would certainly think this as surface contamination can be guarded against by proper procedure and PPE whereas direct infection from exhalation will be less easy to guard against so well in a school environment). You could, for instance, ask for your schedule to have you in classrooms only while the children are out of them or to have a moveable barrier to have with you when you go in to clean to close off, for instance, the toilets or keep kids 6+ feet away while you’re in a classroom if they are in there too.

If you haven’t expressed your discomfort with the plan to him posting on social media and getting what appears to be worked up and indignant about it is a bit premature. From what you’ve said about what’s been happening he’s been trying to fit everything around people’s needs thoughtfully. Have a conversation with the guy.

I agree with @Boom

I think the issue now is not about if you do it or not, it's about your lack of communication and how you go about the next steps...

I'm a TA. I'm in a bubble but I am also cleaning. I think as others have said it's all hands on deck. I'd probably do it if I were in your shoes and use PPE. But if you are really not comfortable explain why and offer to take those hours unpaid. Our school shuts for half a day on Fridays too for a deep clean. My contractual hours mean I can't go home early though and though we have no children in at that point I have to stay and clean. To be honest it's probably the safest time to clean!! Schools have never been so clean in their lives 😂. Doubt there is a germ left on most of the surfaces in our school!

I don’t think cleaning (esp wearing gloves/ mask) is more dangerous than being in the school generally.
We’re all having to muck in where I work. And we’re happy to. they can’t employ cleaners to be there all day can they?
But you need to ask him About the 2 bubbles thing.

If you don’t want to do it contact the union.

If you are asthmatic SMT should have done a risk assessment. Asthma UK has a lot of information on their website. Is it because the spray that they use in school affects you? It affects me. Therefore tell him and perhaps another alternative can be offered. You can’t take your own in.

I find it really hard to understand the mentality of not raising your concerns and just sitting on them-like you've done with the bubbles.

^^ This is the real issue here. You having concerns that the head has not anticipated (whether or not they reflect the actual risk better) is normal and very understandable, especially with something as uncertain as CV. But the refusing to start an adult conversation about it makes you unmanageable in the broadest sense of the word, a bit of a nightmare employee, in many ways.

You keep repeating you don't want to do the cleaning op - fine - but you need to tell your boss not us.

You might have to take a drop in pay or work out another way to make up your hours.
I know the furlough scheme has been incredibly generous, and people have very quickly become accustomed to not having to work because of a million reasons (shielding/ living with shielded/ childcare/ transport issues/ anxiety etc) but those days are going to come to an end, and if you want to keep your job long-term you are going to have to pitch in with the rest of us.

If I was you I would suggest that I could help clean the room I was in eg light switches/tables etc, but not toilets. Surely you clean as part of your job previously? In that you keep your area clean and tidy?

If your asthma is that bad, or you are that vulnerable, how are you able to manage looking after children/running a breakfast club etc? If your GC is vulnerable, then surely you are unable to see them anyway. I don't understand how doing some additional cleaning changes that. Also, presumably, you would be happy to take on other duties instead of cleaning, which would also mean that you had to stay away from your GC. There will be other staff who will be unable to visit their parents/take their kids to see their GPs. Everyone is having to make sacrifices. It seems to me that the fear of the unknown is holding you back. Have you actually researched the risk of cleaning in terms of contracting covid? I think that you would mention your asthma to the head for his risk assessments but agree to give it a go for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

I just wanted to add, in my workplace (I know other ex have mentioned this too) everyone is expected to clean down their areas and take it in turns to clean communal areas as we only have weekly not daily cleaners).
We didn't do this pre-C-Vid (we were expected to keep our areas tidy and every now and then we would spend a hour everyone tidying up and de-cluttering/cleaning.) but we do it now, because it is for our benefit and the benefit of our colleagues - no one complains - we just get on with it.
I'm afraid I would be rolling my eyes behind your back if you were my colleague and you refused to help.

You have consistently not answered the question about pay, which means i suspect that yes you do expect to be paid, for hours you haven't worked.

"The OP needs to stop being so silly and get on with it."

I don't see why she has to do any job she doesn't want to.
I'm an office worker. I'll clean my own desk, do filing, etc., but I wont' by my office's cleaner because that's not my job, not in my job description, not in my contract.

@mumwon, the only extra cleaning we do, clean tables, chairs, rails with dettol or milton. Normal other stuff is hoovering, laying table up for breakfast. We drop everything if a bell goes, dont do any of the things i say until everyone is in bed.

Cafisalimali

OP is not in the shielding group. Govt advice is that its safe enough for OP to be at work. Cleaning is NOT a high risk activity, given the wearing of appropriate PPE.

There's not really anything more to say.

I don't see why she has to do any job she doesn't want to.

Ok, let’s see ...

Her regular job isn’t possible, so in order to justify her hours she needs to do something.

We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and most people are thinking more broadly about the contribution they make to society rather than just focusing on the job description.

School budgets will almost certainly be coming under pressure and cuts will have to be made. Wise not to put yourself at the front of the queue.

Unemployment is rocketing and the competition for jobs will be ferocious. It’s not like there’s a buoyant job market to go into if she does get made redundant.

Take your pick.

As I've already said Google,we normally wipe the table when the kids have finished &stack some of the chairs to help the girls in the kitchen out as it's their job to do that really but there's only 2 of them&one or other if the teachers usually needs the hall straight after lunch fir something.
In answer to the fact that I've 'not answered' the still getting paid thing,we were told right from the start when we were asked if we wanted to go bk or not,that it was totally our choice whether to or not&we would still be paid under the furlough scheme if we chose not to.nobody would be judged that is what we were all told not just me!
Hope that helps

Some of our local schools are closing breakfast/ASC as they make a loss on them and can’t afford to take that hit anymore, so the staff who run them will be made redundant.

Are you sure not being at work is still an option?
As the risk has decreased a lot of the expectations have now changed. I'd be genuinely surprised if, with more students on site and due to come in over coming months, that the offer of not needing to be at work is still there.

Everybody in our school is cleaning - head, teachers, TAs, office staff......all areas including loos. I know of a couple with asthma.

If we didn’t I doubt we’d have jobs. It’s part of the job in today’s schools.Happy to do my bit although it does get repetitive.

I don’t see what risk there is in wearing gloves and spraying bleach cleaner/ wiping bleach on surfaces.

Seems like a lot of hassle for only 2-3 more weeks of work

If you check your contract there will be a clause saying you will undertake other reasonable tasks commensurate as necessary to support yaddah yaddah. You signed that I presume. Did you also fill in a form to do with your general fitness? Did you raise that you can't clean on that form?
I'm guessing you're just not interested in supporting the team.