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.

your stats show that teachers are not at more risk than other key workers.

And yet those other key workers haven’t been told repeatedly by the government, media, and people on MN that they are not at risk.

Other workers haven’t had to beg for data to show that they might actually need some mitigation measures.

And then still not get those mitigation measures.

Retiremental ...... Honestly people post stuff like this and expect it to be taken seriously

Preach it sista! Care home staff and some nurses don't even wear scrubs! But sure we will dress the poor vulnerable teachers in scrubs visors and masks .... Surgical gloves would be needed too . Can you just imagine this. Swear to god this forum gets worse every day

Maybe we should all work from home so we don’t put ourselves at risk. The point is that we can’t, all schools have been asked to fully open. There are other key workers in a similar situation. But yes, if there are key workers who can do their job from home their employers should absolutely support them to.

I don't know how many times i have to say this. The 'other essential workers' column in the data does not refer to ALL other essential workers. It is comparing teachers to healthcare, care staff and emergency services and finds the risk is the same.
So the takeaway point of the data clearly shouldn't be 'not that at risk then'. It should be 'all these groups - HCPs, care staff, emergency services and teachers are at significantly increased risk compared to others'.
If you wouldn't tell a nurse they aren't at risk, don't tell us we aren't at risk.

@noblegiraffe this is what parents and staff were being told in August before the big return to school. Interesting that the ONS data is in stark contrast to this message in terms of the risks to school staff. Were care workers, supermarket workers and those in the health care sector given the same message?