To be furious to see one of dd's teachers smoking outside the school gates in full view of school-children arriving

[pcworld]

I appreciate that it is a free country and people have the right to smoke. The teacher in question is not smoking within the school grounds. However ... surely there must be somewhere else for school staff to smoke that is out of view of the children? I am very upset about this! What do others think? I'm unsure how to handle it. I would like to say something to the head - along the lines of suggesting that an appropriate place is provided for staff to smoke in. And at the same time praising the teachers, who we have been really pleased with. Any comments?

doesns't make us right either of course. Irrelevant.

If I were a teacher I would probably be on 40 a day

Keeping oreder at a 5 year old birthday party gave me grey hairs.Christ only knows what would happen with 30 monosyllabic hormonal teens

I have found that teenagers are more put off by the thoght of ending up with wrinkles and a mouth like a dogs arse and being unable to get an errection than figures about impending death

Pleasure
Note to self:
separate, not 'seperate'

As you as you were.

Oreder?WTF?Obviously my teaching skills would be severely lacking as I cannot even spell

i do work in schools though but always go out the front to smoke illicitly if i need to

out of the school gates people are still living in the free world thank the lord

DS1 would panic.

Due to DH's explantation of why smoking is bad for you, and having his grandad explain why he has a huge scar from a hert by-pass, caused by smoking 80 a day.

Smoking at home in view of a child you teach is not the same as smoking outside the school gate.

My mother was a teacher, and so I grew up with teachers behaving "badly" at times in my house. One of my teachers lived with us for a while during her divorce,a dn during that time she smoked, drank and swore, and had a massive snogging/groping session with the man she had split up from. However, she did none of these things outside the school gates in view of pupils, as it just would not have been apropriate.

"Err, yes, I presume, since respect for a teacher has nothing to do with whether or not she smokes."

Absolutely agree. But we are not talking about smoking. We are talking about hanging outside the school gates smoking.

"DD's nursery teacher smokes. She stinks to high heaven, and I have seen her smoke several times outside school gates. Never has it crossed my mind that she should thus be less worthy of my respect."

Actually our nursery don't let their staff smoke during working hours at all. Not even in their lunchbreak. They work with babies and small children and should not smell of cigarettes. One of the things that attracted me to the nursery in the first place.

I'm in senior management at an infants school. This situation would result in a written warning for the teacher.

Yes, actually I would think most schools had policies on teachers smoking in the presence of pupils/parents.

is it a private school?

sorry independent

I don't think schools can actually dictate what teachers do when off the premises, provided it's legal.

What grounds would you give for the written warning, babylovesshoes?

Sorry are you asking me or OP? I am in a state school and all states would most likely take the same action.

Well, your on the school site really, health and safety laws apply, ocupational health issues, in view of the children also means that there would be a question over "bringing the school into disrepute", its totally not in line with healthy school guidance etc etc.

On a moral note, your working with children, if your were working with babies you could increase the chances of a cot death. Just because your working with older children doesn't mean they are not effected in other ways. Teaching about the dangers of smoking then allowing children to see you smoking is terrible.

Formal warning from me!

you're in management and you write 'your' instead of 'you're'?

You see, even that would rate higher on my priority list than a teacher smoking off school premises

I won't mention effected

I'm with poinsettydog on the homophone pedantry

The thing is, the teacher is not on the school premises.

Thinking of our site, we're at the bottom of a long hill - does the 'It's OK, you can light up now' boundary occur at the school gates/halfway up the hill/after you've passed the bus stop used by many of the students/when you close your own front door behind you?

I'd argue that the common sense approach (adopted at my school by smoking teachers & students alike...[wink) is halfway up the hill, out of sight of school.

But re: 'disciplinary' action, I'd be curious to see any evidence that the line isn't drawn when you step off the school grounds.

Yawn Yawn, desperately looking for teachers grammar errors. Tut Tut.

I think its horrible and makes the school look slack.

what does? grammar or smoking nearby?

try taking that to a tribunal,written warning and/or disciplinary for smoking off site in own time

interesting article to add to the debate

teachers to get role model code

I would not go the the head teacher but I would think it was disgusting. But then that's what I think when I see a bunch of parents smoking near the schoolgate.