to expect school to postpone Parents Evening so that I can vote?

[notanumber]

I'm a teacher (but don't hold that against me, on this thread at least).

The next Parents Evening (Year 7 so not an exam class) is scheduled for...May 6th. Obviously this has been in the school calendar since September and they couldn't have predicted that this might be a Very Significant Date, but surely common sense would dictate that given the circumstances the school postpones it.

I live a good hour away from my school and usually don't leave 'til gone half eight on Parents Evenings, which means, basically that I cannot vote. This is true of many of my colleagues (and I imagine that it may well pose problems for some parents too).

AIBU to tell the Senior Leadership Team that they are being bloody unreasonable in not changing the date given that it's the general pigging election and I'd like to exercise my right to vote?

Is it too late to sort out a proxy vote though - someone whom you give instructions to about casting your vote for you? Could you look into that? Ultimately though, it's your problem unfortunately, not the schools. YANBU to feel what you feel, but YABVU to expect the school to change to accomodate you.

Too late for a proxy - they had to be applied for by 5pm yesterday.

This happens once in 4 years and you cant get that organised?

why can;'t you pop in and vote on your way home, before 10pm?

just start work later, its a bit silly of them to arrange it that day given many parents working.....

I think its more than the election clash annoying you, be happy, maternity leave soon!

yanbu
teachers already do a long enough day(and have families) so moving it would make sense to me.

Ok, thanks for all your replies YABUs and YANBUs both!). I accept that it was my responsibility to have organised a postal vote.

Just seems a shame that it's my Year 12 who will lose out so that I can vote.

It is also a shame for SLT that next time they want me to prepare and deliver unpaid revision on a day I don't even work on, I will be unwilling to do so (They always boast of this kind of provision so proudly of to Ofsted inspectors and the like, they may well feel the loss quite keenly when it's not so readily available.)

Your Y12 are not losing out. They are just not getting an extra. They are getting exactly what they are entitled to.

Go at 7am. Arrange just-in-case cover for registration, on the off chance that you are late.

Alternatively, don't make parents' day appointments during the last 20 minutes of the session, so that you can be guaranteed to make it before the polls close. Any reasonable Head will allow you to do either of these things since you seem to be away from home for 15 hours.

Yes, I will vote at 7 and then head to school and will be there for registration though may miss a bit of briefing.

We don't have an appointments system for Parents Evening - it's a free-for-all scrum - so leaving early is not really an option.

Thank you for the suggestions though.

And you're right about Year 12 still getting what they're entitled to and will try to bear it in mind!

"We don't have an appointments system for Parents Evening - it's a free-for-all scrum - so leaving early is not really an option."

Sounds like a recipe for disater for teachers and parents. Does it actually work ok? How come no appointment system?

is there no end time for the parents evening?

I'm glad you've found a solution. But I think the school should've postponed it - if they'd made a big deal about how it was voting day and at the same time reminded more parents (and the oldest students) to register to vote that would've been an excellent consequence compared to some rearranging.

It works ok I suppose, Hulababy. I don't know why no appointments, never has been in my seven years at the school. Perhaps because teachers with lots of classes wouldn't have enough appointment slots that way?

There is an end time - 20:30 - but it's considered quite bad form to up and leave if there are still parents waiting to see you (although I suppose you could, strictly speaking).

I think management need to set a deadline - a clear out of school time They are not being fair on staff. The schools I worked at had appoinments but there were often delays, etc. However we had a last appointment time say 8pm, and then a clear out time when the caretaker was closing up - say half an hour later. We were also given specific INSET time to look at ways of ensuring appointments lasted only a certain time, how to draw them politely to an end, etc.

I have never seen a no appointment type paren't evening. I would have hated it I am sure. I often had year groups where there was no wy I could see every parent - so I cherry picked those I needed to see as a priority, and then filled in gaps on first come basis. if any parent who didn't get an appointmen felt they desperately needed one I arranged a telephone call or just after/before school instead.

Quick update....

The school have agreeed to postpone Parents Evening by a week "...in light of the significance of the date and after reviewing the concerns raised by some teachers and parents". Perhaps one of SLT is a MNer!

So good news. I can vote and run my revision classes and get to school on time.

Thanks for all the responses.

I'm glad they have rearranged it - it was a reasonable request.

YABU, both dh and I applied for postal votes a number of years ago even though my working hours have always been fairly reasonable and now I am a SAHM and don't actually "need" a postal vote at all. But it's very convenient and you don't have to think at all about when/if you will get to the pooling booth. If the parents' evening has been in the calendar since the beginning of the year it is probably a nightmare to change the date at this stage given that there are probably a ton of other parents' evenings, prizegivings, halls set up for GCSE exams etc. You've know since the date the election was announced (or before actually since the local elections were always going to be on that date) and you could have applied for a postal vote during the Easter schools hols surely?

It may not just affectthe OP though - maybe other parents would also not be able to vote. Although the date could not be forseen by the school (same at our local comp too) - when the date was announced they should have changed the PRE date - they did it here too but quite late. Circumstances change (snow earlier in the year) so PE can be changed and everyone should be given the best opportunity to vote. Not everyone may know how to do postal or even want to given that you have to do it earlier than the date and they may not have had time to make thier minds up.

Its an inconvenience maybe to change dates but has much more notice to do so than weather issues!