To think this isn’t fair? School and snow

[Tania90]

My DD primary school stayed open today. I think one of the very few that did in the area. However, found out that staff and students were expected and try and get in but the headacher stayed home

Who is this not fair to? Would you rather everyone stayed off because the head teacher couldn't get in and your daughter missed a day of school?

FFS, schools are damned if they do and damned if they don’t open due to the weather. They honestly can’t win.

What is unfair about it exactly? I’m sure if individual children had a real problem getting in due to the weather they would be understanding too, but the likelihood is most kids are pretty local and the head likely lives some distance away.

a few miles has made a big difference here as to whether people have had snow/ice or not.

Yabu. People live all over.

How exactly did this impact your DDs education?

Any excuse to blame teachers for something.

This is such an odd thing to complain about. A headteacher is not a schoolchild. He's in a position of employment as the head of an organisation. He can work this position however he and his superiors feels fit.

Almost every single headteacher in the country will sometimes work off-site, at other schools, from home, attend conferences, meetings etc. out of the area. Being the Head of the school has nothing to do with being present on the school grounds 24/7. He's entitled to work off the school site whether there was snow or not. It's a senior position. There are a multitude of reasons he was not working from the school grounds today, all of them completely standard and in the realm of being a headteacher. Or possibly, he couldn't get in from where he lived due to the snow. Unlike children who live in the surrounding areas to a school, its prudent for most teachers to not live near their school at all for obvious reasons.

I can think of various reasons why the HT would need to wfh. Surely you can too?

My kids school was open today, but I found out at 8am (20 mins before it's due) the taxi was cancelled. Bus was cancelled and I don't drive, Uber was 3x the price. Called the school explained and they said it's absolutely fine it can't be helped.

What makes you sure it's a man?

Would you prefer it if the closed had closed completely due to headteacher not being able to make it in?

So you think it's not fair that the staff did their absolute best to ensure your child's education was not impacted?

YABU

actually @Tania90if you come back to your thread, could you clarify who you think this is unfair to? Is it the children? (The school have a duty to be open if they can be, looks like the clearly could be so had no justification for shutting) or do you think it was unfair to the other staff who were able to get into work that one colleague- their boss - couldn’t?

or have you assumed the Head could get into work but just chose not to go?

You should throw rocks at the head next time you see him or her. That will teach ‘em.

Of course if the school is open staff and children are expected to try to get there. I bet you would have also complained if they had closed. I imagine you would have thought it was unfair that the teachers were getting a day off or some such nonsense.

I suggest that you try to live your life in a different way rather than trying to look for things to moan about.

I agree it’s not fair. It is a shitty way to treat staff as it’s highly unlikely that they all live within walking distance.

Once you’re in the car and on the way to work it doesn’t matter if your journey is 20 minutes or an hour long as long as the roads are passable. If there are lots of roads that are dangerous, then they are as dangerous for teachers and TAs as they are for the head.

Decisions like this are not good leadership and are likely to result in a lack of good will and wellbeing amongst the staff.

I would be pissed off if the head lived next to the school but the reality is likely to be very different.
I'm chair of governors at a school that was open today. The head was working from home as he lives in a rural area and had a treacherous drive home last night.

Schools did used to open in years hone by.
I think they are scared to now because of the suing culture.

So close the school then? That's a win win for everyone I guess.

Yes, close the school. If it’s not safe for the head to go in then other staff are likely to have difficulty too.

And how often are parents pleased to be able to get a windfall by suing about a minor accident? In years gone by teachers tended to live closer to the school in which they worked, many didn't have cars and were reliant on public transport.

Are you annoyed that your child was educated today?

"Not fair" is often something toddlers scream while stamping their feet

Some jobs require you to be there in person, some don't. If you've got one that doesn't I'm not sure it benefits anyone to clog up the roads unnecessarily just to be 'fair' to people who have no choice. The exception here would be if they could have got in and provided cover for a colleague who couldn't, in which case, they should have.

Head teacher can work from home occasionally and good to do so if they need to concentrate especially on something. Teachers need to teach their class.

It depends entirely on where the HT lives

How do you know? Why do you care?