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.

I work in a Police Control Room. We can't wear masks because it affects our mics and the cops can't hear us

Red glitter adding to whynot's question - do you work in a room with 30 people all day who cough and sneeze and spray all over you , or 150 different people (secondary)

Do you have screens, ventilation and social distancing though?

I don’t think it sounds very safe. But I also think YABU in thinking NHS staff have effective PPE in the volumes needed. We wear surgical masks, gloves and an apron with no sleeves while working with known positive cases. This is the norm. The patients should wear masks, however if they need a nebuliser they obviously can’t wear their mask for that. And then they are generating their positive aerosols throughout the area. Surgical mask will not protect the wearer anyway, they protect others from the wearer.

I can understand that masks would make that difficult but I would hope they give you alternative mitigations.

There are over 40 of us in the room - no social distancing

Ignoring all the dickish comments from twats on here.

Teachers... Keep 2 m away from as many contacts as you can,do not mingle with the class, keep windows open even if freezing. Wear masks on the corridor and in communal areas. Speak to your union if you are expected to use a room with no ventilation, that shouldnt have got through the covid risk assessments.

Turn up, teach the best you can, be there for each other and the kids. Tis all we can do

@Craiglang

I wonder what would happen if all the school staff told to stop moaning or resign followed through with that and handed in their notice. Many areas already struggle with recruitment and retaining staff. I'm sure all the people moaning about how lazy teachers are would be up in arms if their school no longer had enough staff to open safely.

I hadn't realised just how hated my profession was until this year. Constantly accused of being lazy, selfish, overpaid. It's made me look at all of the parents of the children I adore and work so hard for, and wonder why I bother. Why do I go above and beyond, why do I feed the hungry kids out of my own pocket, buy resources that the school can't afford, fundraise for equipment to make our school a better place and offer the kids experiences they'd never have otherwise. I'm no longer going to do all that, it's not appreciated and if Mumsnet is to be believed the majority of those kids parents think so low of me it won't make a difference.

I honestly don’t think Mumsnet is representative of the population. I’m SLT in a primary school and the vast majority of parents have been nothing but supportive to school staff and the risk assessment. The small minority who are not are just more vocal. I’m assuming MN is like that as well.

I also have one of my DC at primary school and I’m grateful for how they are handling Covid in a way that keeps my rather anxious child feeling happy and secure. I’ll support them with whatever Covid secure measures they take, now and in the future.

Do you have screens, ventilation and social distancing though

Nope none of those either

In that case you should whistle blow to the H&SE.

@Witchcraftandhokum

Mintychoc did you actually read my post? We are not allowed to wear masks let alone put screens up.

Have you actually been told by your schools SLT that you are not allowed to wear masks? Because every school in my borough say it is our choice. I choose not to! Please link where the government say that school staff are not allowed to wear masks.

I have a lot of sympathy with teachers. It’s a bad environment they work in. But teachers aren’t the only ones.

I’m a lawyer. Im not allowed to wear a mask in court. There is nowhere for me to have private conversations with clients other than the normal tiny rooms (sitting across a desk).

I’m sure there are many many other jobs where safety isn’t prioritised, But if you don’t do the job you won’t think of them. It really isn’t just teachers. This shouldn’t be a race to the bottom.

Redglitter You will never convince some posters that other jobs have it tough too. Unless you work in exactly the same circumstances then they don’t care. No two jobs roles are ever the same and I keep reading on here “but police have masks”😂.

Wow, this thread. So much nastiness and ignorance.

I feel really sorry for teachers. I also feel really sorry for all the people who are going to lose their livelihoods - or their lives - because of the pointless ineffectuality of a so-called 'lockdown' in which all nurseries, schools, colleges and universities stay open as normal. What is the point of so much sacrifice when so many households are going to be sending one or more of their members to a germ-swapping factory every day. I despair.

I confess I haven’t read the whole thread but... I work in early years. We don’t have PPE. We mix very closely with the children as they are all under 5 and a lot of them need not only personal care but a fair amount of love and cuddles etc.

Obviously we don’t have the vast amount of numbers that schools have but we are coming into contact with many different children each day, most of whom are snotty at this time of year.

I don’t know any of my colleagues who are feeling uneasy about coming to work. Obviously different if vulnerable and none of my particular colleagues are. We do a lot of hand washing and steaming etc and we wear masks but only in the corridors / loos etc or if we are going into another room / bubble that isn’t the one we are based in.

When we’re hands on interacting with the children we have no PPE of any kind (except for nappy changes / toileting issues etc) and obviously the children also don’t wear masks.

It’s my job. It’s crap pay and can be long hours and relentless but I like it and I am very much hoping we get to stay open. I also very much hope my own children can continue to go to school.

My team worked hard to prove that our job, which had never been done remotely before, could be done remotely. That is why we are still working from home. Teachers had a golden chance to prove that teaching remotely could work in the summer term and in many cases failed to take the opportunity. My children were not taught at all by their school between march - September.

If schools and unions had focused on demonstrating how remote learning could work we would be having a very different conversation now.

Link

@Chosennone

Ignoring all the dickish comments from twats on here.

Teachers... Keep 2 m away from as many contacts as you can,do not mingle with the class, keep windows open even if freezing. Wear masks on the corridor and in communal areas. Speak to your union if you are expected to use a room with no ventilation, that shouldnt have got through the covid risk assessments.

Turn up, teach the best you can, be there for each other and the kids. Tis all we can do

I teach in a classroom that doesn’t have a window. I’m hoping the cracks in the walls will be enough ventilation!

It does seem very odd that only one sector are supposed to keep working and get NO formal protection
I’m ever so sorry , whilst I agree that schools being open is a good thing the fact that teachers feel thrown to the wolves is terrible

In that case you should whistle blow to the H&SE

Believe it or not theyve been in & agreed theres nothing that can be done. Our windows don't open. We have too much equipment on our desks for them to be moved - but even if they could move theres no room. And we can't work elsewhere They did however recommend a one way system 🙄

@rawlikesushi

I'm a teacher and I think we just have to get on with it as safely as we can.

Everyone is being told to wfh unless their work can't be done from home, and ours can't.

At my school the teacher stands behind a line, giving a 2m distance from the pupils, and all windows open. I can wear a visor if I want to, and lots of staff do. The caretaker comes in and cleans contact points regularly. There's hand sanitiser everywhere and the pupils use it every time they enter/leave a classroom.

I feel safe. As safe as a supermarket worker, or my sister who works in a factory, or my mum who is a childminder anyway. It's not ideal but if staff don't feel safe then SLT need to find a way to sort that out.

This is the most sensible post on this thread

Oh that's crap. Solidarity fist bump. Good luck

A number of issues here:

1. Some SLT are shit. No teacher should be forced to get close to the children if they do not want to (I appreciate it is often unavoidable) All schools should have implemented a system with staggered starts etc.

No class should be overloaded beyond normal capacity.

1. All teachers should be able to wear a mask at all times outside the classroom and a visor when actually speaking in a classroom. It is impossible for students to understand you when wearing a mask.
2. Despite the disingenuous bleating on here there is no other profession who have to be in close contact with 30 or more people in a room without protection. People sitting in a room with adults with screens between them are nowhere near the same. You can’t socially distanced from a group of 5 year olds in the same room as you.
3. I think teachers would feel a bit better if there was an acknowledgement that they are going above and beyond by keeping things virtually normal for students, especially as we go into lockdown and it is supposed to be too dangerous to go to the gym, non essential shops or restaurants. Rather than people constantly suggesting teachers are workshy or lazy.

Nicknacky Hellooooooo 😁

Ah yes the masks which are so effective were now seeing entire shifts having to self isolate because someone tests positive after an encounter with 'a customer'

Our control room is at breaking point just now. Were so short staffed were working at dangerous levels

I’m sorry you are feeling like this OP, I think teachers should have more ppe.

That said, ‘safe/unsafe’ isn’t binary, it’s a continuum. Moving the rest of the country into lockdown should actually make your job much much safer than it has been. So I don’t think now is the time for schools to close.