AIBU or are the lives of school staff worthless?

[Witchcraftandhokum]

I fully appreciate that the education and mental well-being of children is important but why does it trump the physical and mental health of school staff? The facts are simple, people are being told to stay at home because it is unsafe to do otherwise, unless you work in education or the NHS who are provided with effective PPE.

On a daily basis I am expected to supervise the diner where 150 students eat lunch (obviously mask free) if I wish to eat I am also mask free. I have to supervise the same 150 children in narrow corridors. For this pupils are supposed to wear masks but there are a number who refuse (not the students who are exempt) and we cannot enforce it. We hand out hundreds of masks per week to students whose parents don't ensure they have one with them.

We are not allowed to wear masks in classrooms but are given visors which aren't as effective. The children are not allowed to wear masks in classrooms. None of this are rules imposed by the school but are in-line with the government guidance.

We have students who say they have developed a cough knowing we have to send them home, we cannot make the decision as to whether they are lying or not, but I've been verbally abused by parents calling me "fucking stupid" for not knowing when a child is lying.

Before half-term we had 25% of staff off sick as they had tested positive (including myself). There are many experts stating schools should be shut but Boris has done a fantastic job of insinuating that school staff are lazy and don't want to work, and the early response to the unions concerns shows that this is working. I've never suffered with stress or anxiety but the thought of a return to school tomorrow is making me feel sick.

Talking to colleagues who work in other schools it appears my experience is not unusual. So AIBU to think that this government doesn't give a shiny shit about school staff.

@Witchcraftandhokum

Reading this thread has been somewhat demoralising, and in parts quite upsetting. After reading the post from Alldonein I felt what I realised were pangs of jealousy at the thought of her handing her notice in, this in turn led a a chat with DH and 20 minutes later my resignation letter was typed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do but after my 12 weeks notice I'll stack shelves until I get something. It'll be a struggle but we can manage and I feel nothing but relief!

Something to consider before you hand your notice in, I have a friend who works in recruitment, she says that for every job that they advertise (which isn’t many at the moment) They have 300+ applicants. It isn’t easy to gain employment at the moment and it is likely to be like this for at least 6 months maybe longer. Be prepared that you might not walk into another job. Good luck OP in whatever you decide to do.

However, people don’t want to read your post because they all want their kids out and at school. Even the most sensible people I know don’t seem to spare a thought for that staff risking their lives and wellbeing. It’s too unpalatable

What a ridiculous statement. Where on earth do you think these children go to after school and after spreading virus amongst themselves? Or even from the teacher to the pupil!!! Back home to their parents that’s where! So children going to school means that the adults at home are in just as much risk as the teacher.
Let’s not forget that the opening statement of OPs post was to imply that the government wanted EVERYONE to be safe working at home if they could except for teachers and NHS staff ( who Have PPE)

If she feels there has been a backlash it’s because everyone on here who isn’t a teacher recognises the hundreds of other jobs out there that bring risks with them. Maybe they might be allowed masks or better distancing in some respects but as many of us have pointed out that protection is often outweighed by other degrees of risk, such as working in people’s homes, unsanitary jobs , those working with more people or in close contact jobs.
Really she just showed total lack of understanding for anyone else’s job.
Teachers have teaching unions fighting for them and are very vocal on forums such as this, whereas many other jobs don’t have that luxury or that voice

You are key workers.
You deserve a safe workplace & more money should be spent on that.
It's not ok to deny kids an education.
Your lives are not worthless & you are massively appreciated.
You need safer conditions & kids who flout rules / throw masks at you should be sent home.
I'm sorry it feels like this OP

The (much much much higher paid) teachers stand safely at the front but TAs are in amongst the students.

I presume this is secondary - certainly not how it works in primary.
And you are not doing the same job as a teacher. When you go home, they still have hours of work ahead of the - all of it unpaid!

I've read the comments on here, and many are shockingly callous. The Op's post is neither melodrama nor hyperbole. Teachers' lives are at risk because this shoddy, self-serving government refuses to take proper steps to keep them safe and insists schools are 'Covid secure', when they clearly are no such thing. Studies show that children can spread Covid, even when they have few symptoms or none. This 'lockdown' is going to be utterly pointless if schools aren't made as Covid safe as they could be.

@FuckedyFuck

Look at the stats OP and you’ll find retail workers are far more likely to die from Covid 19 than teachers. So I think you need to give your head a bit of a wobble if you think you’re safer there.

You might just want to look at some more recent data and give your own head a wobble.

I’m a teacher.
We aren’t allowed to wear masks.
I have 31 5 year olds that like to lick everything and sneeze in your face. They can’t wash their hands effectively unless we stand over them. We wash hands 6 times a day as the school can’t afford anymore sanitiser (and it was making everyone’s hands sore) so that a lot of time overseeing hand washing.
I’ve spent £60 on PPE (basic cotton washable masks enough so we can change twice a day and extras for the car, visits and sanitiser for sensitive eczema prone skin) for me and my daughter who is in secondary only to find out I’m not allowed to wear it.

Our classroom windows don’t open very far but even so the rooms are freezing already with them open as far as possible, and often I can’t grip my pen to write.

When the NHS didn’t have PPE I was up in arms emailing my MP. I bought so much PPE and took it to friends who are nurses. A family member went into hospital and I did the same for staff in his ward.

It is not a race to the bottom. Where is the fellow concern for teachers?

We are working so hard, we do not stop all day trying to undo the effects of lockdown on our children’s progress, reassuring countless concerns and the many many demands of the parents, many of us are losing break and lunch times due to trying to maintain bubbles or cover staff absences, running online and live learning so no one misses out and trying to make the children feel safe.
We just want to feel safe too.
Trust me, teaching is no fun at the moment. I think most deserve a medal for what they are putting up with.

And it would be really nice if people didn’t keep undermining our concerns- if we all get it, we will spread it to your kids and you will all get it. For a lockdown to be short and effective, we need to stop this happening- this is what will stop businesses going bust and your jobs being lost. Why aren’t people making this connection?!

I want my classroom to be safe for me, for my support staff, for your children and for my own children. Why is this so wrong? Why is caring about this being met with such hatred?

If you went to a shop and the worker there minus any PPE licked your change and the carrier bag handle before they passed it to your gloveless hand and then coughed in your eyes, I’m sure you would have something to say about it.

Those stats earlier that shows retail workers being at very high risk if covid were before masks, social distancing and screens were put up. And surely it was also when schools were closed for lockdown?

@CoronaIsWatching

Just get on with it like the rest of us.

Ah ok, like the rest of you who are being asked to stay in an unventilated room without PPE for 6 hours a day infront of the demographic who’s infections have risen 50 times over since Sept? Like you?!

Visors not visits.... obviously.

OP you said "The facts are simple, people are being told to stay at home because it is unsafe to do otherwise," But that is completely untrue!

What is true however, is that it is potentially unsafe for those that are clinically vulnerable. The government have said to stay at home so that the hospitals are not overstretched. They don't want staff having to chose between treating a 40-year old versus a 70-year old.

Please get your "facts" correct, and try not to spout untruths just for a bit of sensationalism and to provide "facts" for your argument
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@Oysterbabe

You don't think saying 'Are the lives of school staff worthless?' is melodramatic? You're being put in a position where you have a slightly higher risk of being exposed to a virus, that is not serious for the vast majority, than some other professions. You're not being asked to put a gun to your head.

Slightly higher risk? Try significantly higher risk.

This is brilliantly put. This is the situation in a nutshell. All you complete idiots saying that teachers should just ‘get on with it’ don’t realise that you are extended the lockdown by your refusal to accept that what we have in schools is not adequate to mitigate the spread of the virus.

@cjpark

Personally, having 2 children at different schools - one child was taught fabulously throughout lockdown. The other child's teacher basically checked out for 5 months - no set work, no contact, no marking, nothing. Contacting the school made no difference. Yet both teachers were paid in full from March until September. Meanwhile DH was working in the NHS with limited PPE, 60 hour weeks, on less money without 6 weeks leave. So, yes, as a profession, I don't have much sympathy for them.

Sorry, 50% of your recent "teacher experience" was of a teacher who, with no notice or prior training, managed to teach "fabulously", and your conclusion is to not have much sympathy for them? Okeydoke.

@ClareBlue

I'm thinking all the Irish posters are thinking WTF.

Our schools are open, everyone wears masks, teachers and children, no parents at the gates or in the school, staggered movement around school, stay in a disinfected classroom with teacher changes not students, desks disinfected before new class, mask breaks in the yard at social distances, school cleaned every night with contact points disinfected, hand sanitiser on entry to school and classroom and wc, are just some of the controls my son has to go through.

There are more. Not a single case in the school or staff.

Teachers supplement time lost with procedures through online support, parents briefed by head on a Sunday how it's going. This is a state run tech with a catchment that triggers free school meals and boxes of food being sent home to support families in lockdown. Not some posh fee paying school.
Why can all schools not be run like this?

Different governments. That's all.

For a lockdown to be short and effective, we need to stop this happening- this is what will stop businesses going bust and your jobs being lost. Why aren’t people making this connection?

Because it’s not the case. The data from ROI shows case numbers dropping quickly and significantly without school closures.

4 weeks out of school would be even further disrupted education, vulnerable children high and dry, working parents supposed to do what exactly?

No other European country going back into lockdown has shut schools for more than an extra week. The importance of keeping schools open this time is widely understood.

FancySomeChips What do you think about closing schools for 4 weeks now but carrying on through other holiday periods? Easter, half term etc? Rates are said to be significantly lower in the warmer months. Wouldn't this offer a safer working environment? Windows open, more time outside, lower rates......

What do you think about closing schools for 4 weeks now but carrying on through other holiday periods? Easter, half term etc?

What about all the working parents who can’t just take 4 weeks off work with no notice?

If they want us working through other holidays then contracts will need to change and if we lockdown now for 4 wks there will be no online learning etc. We aren’t paid for holidays so if we are forced to holiday now then there will be no learning support from us in this period if that makes sense?
I didn’t actually mention school closures at all so not sure why you are asking me this? I just talked about what I feel is basic human right (and my responsibility to the children) for safety in schools, not shutting them?

@TheKeatingFive are these figures the result of much tougher lockdowns though- schools open but written letters of permission to leave the house to take kids to school, better track and trace with decent enforcement rates and even the army knocking on doors to check where people are??
I don’t know, but we seem to have much softer lockdowns than anywhere else which means we aren’t comparing like with like?
I would say looking at the graphs of UK infections since September university contributions aside, there is a clear link between schools returning without adequate safety measures and the increase. The rate is 1 in 50 for secondaries- that is shockingly bad.
But I’m not a data analyst, nor are you probably. I just want to be safe when I’m at work.

@TheKeatingFive
Very true.
I think the group most enraged by moving the holidays wouldn’t be school staff, but working parents.

are these figures the result of much tougher lockdowns though- schools open but written letters of permission to leave the house to take kids to school, better track and trace with decent enforcement rates and even the army knocking on doors to check where people are??

Jesus no, not at all. 😳

Our track and trace is a disaster. The can barely get police to enforce here let alone the army.

They’re combination of harsher measures from 3/4 weeks ago (no household visiting, but non essential retail open) and level 5 lockdown from a week and a half ago (slightly softer than U.K. lockdown).

It looks like household visiting has made the most difference. I’m not sure our level 5 was even needed.

I work in early years education so we will still be open during lockdown with no PPE. Our focus is the children, putting on a big smile for them and making them feel happy and that everything is ok and as normal as possible. I will probably get sneezed and coughed on and hugged which probably puts me at risk but I remember who I’m here for, pull up my big girl pants and get on with it. Not because I’m a hero or because I don’t worry about the virus but because there is no other choice. There are thousands of early years staff doing exactly the same thing all over the country and we are given no more consideration by the government than teachers are.

I think what is key is the timing. Our gov seem to prefer the “let’s put our fingers in our ears and pretend everything is peachy” approach while others are far more proactive and therefore more effective at introducing the right measures when they are needed rather than a month or so too late.

@Rainbowb this is what I mean, you shouldn’t have to! And there is a choice.
It’s not a race to the bottom! We should all feel safe at work!

I put on my massive smile and make sure my class are happy and safe too, but it doesn’t mean I should be infection fodder. Make your voice heard, if you want PPE, make some noise about it. I stand in solidarity with you!

Same in nurseries. No PPE, no social distancing- and many people don't give a shit.

I get it, people need to work so they need their kids to be in school or childcare. We all have bills to pay. I'm in the same position with my own children! But teachers/ early years staff deserve a 'safe' work environment. Other work places have measures in place- working from home, distancing, masks, ventilation etc. Maybe all of the above! At work the only thing I can do is wash my hands regularly- sometimes in cold water 🙄