The exit plan and schools.

[NeverGuessWho]

I know this whole thread will be hearsay, but I’m just interested in hearing people’s opinions of where schools are likely to fit in to the exit plan?

A friend thinks they will be opened early on, as this will free up more people to work, and hence enable furloughed workers to return to work. This will crucially save money.

IMHO, schools will be one of the last restrictions to be lifted. Once schools are opened, there will effectively be multiple mass gatherings in every town and city, all at the same time. Surely this will result in a surge of cases of the virus.

Unless of course, they pursue the antibodies/certified passport route?

What do people think?

The issue is if gov says go back and teachers can’t/don’t they will be at real risk from redundancies - with was tax going into the system there isnt the money to fund the education system indefinitely so non-working teachers will be at risk.

Less tax (not was tax!)

I've handed in my notice over this. I'm only a part time TA so I can't imagine the education system will collapse because of me leaving, but I am very sad to have left a job that I love and am good at. However I will not work in an environment where efforts are not being made to minimise risk. I've been told by my Headteacher that I'm anxious, its not good for the children to have me around if I insist on Social distancing, that if children need a cuddle they should have one, that we're all going to get it anyway.
I am not prepared to jeopardise the safety of my loved ones for my job, and I make no apology for that.

Rest - I hope at some point you will be able to do the job you love safely x

We have to know that there are not lots of jobs out there home or overseas. Whole industries are on hold. Individual tutoring for those families who can afford it might be on the rise though!

@restyourhead
Your ht is a twat!

There will be mass unemployment for a year or two so hold on to jobs if you can!

@LaProfesora thank you for the confirmation
I've felt as if I'm going mad these last couple of weeks, if it weren't for my very supportive DH I would be in pieces over this.

@Newgirls thank you. I'm not sure what the future holds but hopefully I'll get back into education one way or another at some point.

@Newgirls
I appreciate what you're saying. But I think I'd rather hold onto my life than my job

@RestYourHead

I know how you feel though. I love my job, I love my students. And I miss them. I also didn't get to say goodbye to my year 11 and 13 and it was heartbreaking.
I want to be back at work, of course I do. But not when there is still a significant risk to my health or my students' health.

It’s a hard one.

We can’t wait until vaccine but I wouldn’t expect u too after May half term at earliest but September is reasonable. Depends on numbers.

Very early and staff may refuse to turn up.

Also I don’t particularly want to test the theory re safety for children when numbers are running high. If wrong then too late.

@cantkeepawayforever

I completely agree with you regarding teachers going back as soon as is safe. And by safe, I don’t mean completely risk free, I mean once the risk has been minimised and procedures are in place. I hope that will be sooner rather than later as well.

But I do not agree with @Xenia who seems to believe that teachers are actively choosing not to go to work and have single handedly closed schools, whilst expecting everyone else to work.

@Xenia
Teachers did not ask for this and neither do they want this. I feel for anyone, including your son who is out there at the moment having to work through this.

I take care of Key Workers children on a rota and I’m very nervous about doing so, but I get on with it when it’s my turn. We don’t have any proper social distancing measures, unlike your son, who will have expectations on him and the others around him.

Teachers didn’t decide when to close and we certainly won’t be deciding when to open again. This is not our fault. You come across extremely bitter and nasty towards teachers and it’s completely uncalled for. We have done nothing wrong and are being directed by our local authorities. What more can we do?

As an aside, if I refused to go into work once schools opened back up I suspect I would be disciplined and sacked.

I will go back to work whenever I am told to do so. I have no say in the matter.

@LaProfesora best wishes to you, the whole world is upside down right now and we have to make very difficult decisions about balancing our priorities. The vast majority of us working in education do so because we love it and want to make a difference. I will miss all those little interactions you get every day with the children, its a job like no other.
I hope we all come through this in good health and with our sanity intact.

Of course prof! Me too! But those without money coming in from a partner/savings etc might have to take the risk

The death of the 13 year old boy was tragic, but it was also anomalous. The government cannot make decisions based on individual tragic exceptions. Please don't think I'm being callous. My own son (same age, also perfectly healthy) very nearly died last year of pneumonia which developed from a bug he picked up at school. Sitting next to his hospital bed wondering whether he would survive, was the most terrifying experience of my life, although unlike the other poor boy he pulled through, thank goodness. The only way of preventing this would have been to isolate him at home permanently, so that he never have caught the bug in the first place. Or to have all schools permanently closed so that children never share germs. I'm not suggesting that schools should reopen immediately, or without great thought, or without other protective measures being put in place. But to suggest that schools can only reopen once they are 'perfectly safe' for everyone is ridiculous. They are never 'perfectly safe', regardless of Covid-19.

@Newgirls
I'm a single parent and have no savings

@captainmarble

But to suggest that schools can only reopen once they are 'perfectly safe' for everyone is ridiculous. They are never 'perfectly safe', regardless of Covid-19.

Schools at the moment are particularly unsafe and the health threat is massive compared to what is usual.

Yes I know, which is why I'm not suggesting they reopen right now. But a lot of people (on MN and in RL) are swinging to the other extreme and saying something along the lines of 'they shouldn't reopen until they're perfectly safe, just look at that poor 13 year old boy who died'. That's the position I'm taking issue with.

I have nothing against teachers at all - my mother was one and my children's father is one. I just feel we should not have closed schools and instead taken the Swedish solution. However we are where we are. We certainly cannot afford to pay nurses' and teachers' wages forever however if most commercial companies are not operating so whatever health decisions are taken they will have to be balanced against the nation having enough money to pay benefits, state workers' wages etc.

prof - you wont be alone in that. I hope your job is still there in six months x

@captainmarble

I didn't say they had to be 'perfectly' safe. I said they had to be safe.

Just look at the poor 13 year old boy who died
Wow. Would you be saying this if it was your son who died?

@Newgirls
It will be teachers who teach my subject are really difficult to find. I'm leaving my current school at the end of August and they still haven't found my replacement.

No, I probably wouldn't. I would probably be overwhelmed by grief and not wanting to let my other children out of my sight, ever. But the govt cannot make decisions on that basis.