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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think school have dealt with the snow really crappily??

71 replies

Disenchanted3 · 06/01/2010 10:27

Tuesday Morning we wake up to 6 inches of snow, phone school, cannot get through.

DH takes DS to school, dozens of kids being dragged through the snow, only to be told be returning parents half way there that school was closed.

So yesterday we are phoning chool to try and get info about today, cannot get through.

No word from them.

This morning am ringing and ringing, not wanting to take DS back out in the snow walking again. Cannot get through.

Finally at 8:30 it rings and rings and rings. No one answers.

I manage to get through again thinking they must have jjust missed my call, no answer again.

Now my sisters best friends mum is a teacher, so I call my sister who calls her friend.

School is closed.

The teachers KNEW this yesterday but made no effort to inform parents.

They have our numbers, they have mobile numbers (just a quick txt to a few numbers saying please inform any other parents etc was needed) they have a website no info on that at all

So basically they jut left the school today, with noone there to answer the phone to tell parents it was closed, and left parents to bring their kids there just to see if it was open.

AIBU to think this is pretty shitty?

OP posts:

SparklyGothKat · 06/01/2010 13:17

we have Parentmail, school comms. and parentline, they also announce on the radio and on the LA site. You know for next time dis

PuppyMonkey · 06/01/2010 13:19

The lesson to be learned for the future is surely ... listen to your local radio station... at least on days when it's snowing!! It won't kill you, you know.

That's how the message has always worked round where I live, the head teachers always ring radio stations first to get the message out.

We listened to ours all morning and our school wasn't mentioned so poor dd had to go in - she was most depressed!

Pikelit · 06/01/2010 13:20

"The world and his wife know that the local radio announce school closures. Even way back in the 80's this was the case."

And before then! Only one of my jobs as a local authority press officer in the '70s involved getting the school closures off to the local radio station. Even if I couldn't get into the office! All this before the interwebby.

Schools should have a policy about closure and make this clear (most of them do). But to be honest, they can't do the OP's thinking for her and I find it hard to believe someone remains so clueless that they can't even start thinking of the ways they might discover when the school is open or not. Especially if they have the technological ability to come onto MN and complain!

sparklycheerymummy · 06/01/2010 13:21

Schools cant possible ring every parent..... we have to check our local radio station, or the internet or we have a text message service to tell us!

sparklycheerymummy · 06/01/2010 13:25

OP you really should not blame others for failing to find out yourself..... if snow is too bad then noone will be there..... why should teachers go out if parents are not going to be expected to! YOu couldnt just ring a few parents and hope they pass the message on and like i said who is to say anyone can get to school to access parents numbers!

zookeeper · 06/01/2010 13:25

YANBU. This sounds like our school last year; this year they sent a letter home with all the dcs last night saying that school was likely to be closed the following day and that the school website would confirm the following morning. I logged on at 7am this morning and there's a big message saying it's closed.

madhairgirl · 06/01/2010 13:26

Our school closure wasn't mentioned on the radio or the internet. we had been warned yesterday to listen to it, so I did, it wasn't mentioned so trudged down a slippery hill with a just turned 3yr old and my 4yr old to then find the school was closed after all. I wasn't the only one. Since phoned the school who did say that they had a text alert, but it would have helped if we knew about it! Was not impressed at all.

Paolosgirl · 06/01/2010 13:32

Our school closures aren't always mentioned on the radio either - or if they are, it's at about 8.30/9am sometimes, by which time most parents are on their way.

Schools need to let parents know how they are going to inform them of school closures. As I posted earlier, schools in our region use Groupcall for announcements and to notify parents if their child has not turned up for school. A letter was sent home telling us how the new system worked - they didn't expect us to magically 'know'! Before that, we had to listen to the radio - again, a letter went home to all parents of P1 children.

FimbleHobbs · 06/01/2010 13:38

We are subscribed to a text alert service for school closure - our school has mentioned the service several times in the weekly newletter, and on the TV presenters were saying 'listen to your local bbc station to find out what schools are closed'.

StarExpat · 06/01/2010 15:09

I just found out DH's school has a text service as well... all faculty and parents receive a text in case of school closure or other emergency.
he teaches in a school that definitely doesn't have a lot of money at all. I'm thinking it can't cost too much.

youwillnotwin · 06/01/2010 15:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fizzylemonade · 06/01/2010 15:16

Well I knew my school was closed this morning at 7.15am but that was from my mate who is a childminder and minds a teacher's child.

We are under Radio Leeds so they announce the school closures list every 30 minutes BUT they have to list under the council areas they cover so they start with Bradford, then Calderdale, then Kirklees before finally arriving at Leeds (mine) and then they do Wakefield.

This list at 7.15ish goes on for so long it gets interrupted by the 7.30 news so by the time they have finished it they are re-starting it again

My school finally hit the list at 8.45. A bit late for most parents listening. We got emailed by the school at 7.55 but that is only because we have their newsletters emailed to us.

I texted everyone I knew from school at 7.15 (I know it takes me a while to make myself look presentable -that doesn't even mean make-up just un-dead ) so didn't want anyone else getting all geared up to go out.

Your school knew there would be snow and so should have informed you where to find out if it was closed.

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 06/01/2010 15:21

We had parents claiming there was nothing about closure on our website or on the local radio station.

No we said - that's because we are open!

islandofsodor · 06/01/2010 19:42

You must have been one of the few then saggar. I felt really bad getting my kids in yesterday as on the way back ALL the local children were out playing! Today when we couldn't get off the street in our car I called my Dad to take the kids in his 4X4.

My neice's school was open too, apparently that one never closes despite the roads being treacherous (middle of an estate in Smallthorne)

dilemma456 · 06/01/2010 20:07

Message withdrawn

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 06/01/2010 20:15

Yes IOS - just a few of us open on Tuesday and even less today it seems. Lots of non-attenders though.

islandofsodor · 06/01/2010 20:19

My kids school is ALWAYS open lol! It is in the middle of town though.

nzshar · 06/01/2010 20:21

YANBU yet at the same time YABU. OK let me explain myself now.

YANBU asthe school should have in place the information to parents on what website or radio station to listen to to find out about closures.Or at least like you have said left an answer phone message about the closure.
On the other hand you are presumably internet savvy enough to be on here so therefore should have some kind of idea to at least google school closures in your area where you would eventually come across your local LA site where they all list school closures also BBC radio can be heard online as well.

WilfSell · 06/01/2010 20:26

saggar! sodor! Our [Staffs] school was open (I rang to confirm because DS refused to believe it )

Obv local radio is mostly the answer. But I do think that efficient parental communication IS a burden that schools need to do more about, and certainly ours. The note home in the school bag and the lastminute phoneround when things are cancelled etc are not very helpful and most parents I speak to about this agree. The school don't seem to want to change though (I have raised this with the head, the secretary and the governors and thus far no response). The money could be raised by parents for example.

I'd far rather one person went in early to check things out, or even didn't because I believe you can access it remotely, then texted/emailed everyone automatically. It is very difficult even with the radio: the notifications don't come till most people have left, and many have to go on to work, or drop other kids off, or make arrangements for cover etc.

nymphadora · 06/01/2010 20:43

Re the phone tree for parents-I don't give out my number easily as I work for social services and dh is a head teacher so we are at risk of'interesting' phone calls.So there is often as reason not just people being awkward.

busybutterfly · 06/01/2010 21:53

Last time DC's school closed we were called at 8.20am - we'd made plans for kids to get to school so we were not impressed.

Today - no phone call, nothing. Good job we'd checked the internet, no good if you don't have it though.

Is a great system if everyone does what they're supposed to!!

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