If you don't think schools should reopen...

[TeaInMyStoneCup]

...what do you think should happen? Genuine question. I work full time (from home), as does DH (though not at home) and we have a soon to be 5 yo (in Sept). Do you think that we should just carry on as we had to in lockdown when nurseries closed, when we were at breaking point attempting to work and simultaneously look after him? It was shit for us and it was shit for him because I could never give him my full and undivided attention. I'm still catching up with work now and he went back to nursery in June.

I understand concerns but they don't seem proportionate to what we know is the mortality rate for this illness. Genuinely - what do you think should happen? Parents should just home school?

My two sisters and my mother are all teachers and can't wait to get back.

Well schools are back here anyway so guess time will tell either way.

@summersnearlyover I'm sorry your relationship fell through but glad your parents were there for you. I think we've all had our moments of talking to random strangers as though we had spent five years on a desert island over this lockdown.

This thread is a non issue. The will definitely be opening as they have here.

@neveradullmoment99. You misinterpreted what I said. My own kids would probably be ok with the farcically poor blended learning that was being proposed. I can (unlike many posters here) see beyond my own self interest and advocate for the many already disadvantaged children who would be utterly failed by two days a week of learning.

@Nellodee that’s very true, even my antisocial neighbour has become much more chatty. Thanks but I’m not too bothered, I couldn’t see a future in the long term due to my circumstances anyway.

I was kinda hoping though that more folks would now give a shiny shit given all we now know in addition to what we are witnessing unfold all over the globe

Which is what? That this is a nasty illness that is predominantly dangerous to the elderly (and yes, age is the biggest risk factor) and that in a small minority of cases seems to cause a longer term effect?

Neither of those things make me feel that schools shouldn't open.

wow this thread has turned quickly.

Vulnerable children are at risk. As a parent of 2 that matters. Schools should open, with compulsory masks.

Why won't they make masks compulsory? Because swathes of the British public are ignorant and won't do anything for the benefit of others. Ever.

Go out, party every day, do whatever you want, but around my Vulnerable kids, wear a fucking mask you arseholes.

@TeaInMyStoneCup

I was kinda hoping though that more folks would now give a shiny shit given all we now know in addition to what we are witnessing unfold all over the globe

Which is what? That this is a nasty illness that is predominantly dangerous to the elderly (and yes, age is the biggest risk factor) and that in a small minority of cases seems to cause a longer term effect?

Neither of those things make me feel that schools shouldn't open.

So are you satisfied now OP with the consensus that no one is calling for schools to not reopen? As we've been saying all along we want schools open in the safest way that will protect staff and students and avoid closures due to illness/isolation.

There could be childcare solutions with the school if the government bothered to try. I don’t get this attitude of seeing problems never solutions so might as well do business as usual.

And surely businesses would rather work around sustainable planned part time instead of repeatedly having to let staff off to isolate at the drop of a hat. Full schools leads to lots of time off to if infections rise. I’d rather plan than guess.

And surely businesses would rather work around sustainable planned part time instead of repeatedly having to let staff off to isolate at the drop of a hat

I love the way people make these assumptions.

No. Announcing part time availability at a time when businesses are having to make cuts is signing your own redundancy papers. Think about businesses bringing back people from furlough. The mothers will be absolutely bottom of those lists.

Reacting to emergency situations (which may never happen) is very different.

I know I'm so pissed off that it's the same old story in that the UK is constantly reacting rather than bein innovative and proactive. We could have looked at using the army to drive coaches.

sorry wrong thread

I am making the assumption based on the business I run. Sorry other businesses aren’t the same.

Can see your points about redundancy. But that will affect anyone who had to take 10-14 days off several times a term too. Surely. It’d have a worse effect in my business than planning ahead.

See my post above and that I said about bubbles and childcare. There are things they could do there too.

Is the business you run looking at the possibility of cutting its workforce in the near future (like many right now?) I suggest not if it would be willing to accommodate part time hours for the foreseeable.

But that will affect anyone who had to take 10-14 days off several times a term too. Surely. It’d have a worse effect in my business than planning ahead.

A short absence can be accommodated, with wfh, family childcare. You’ll be on a project, have met the client, hand done lots of the work, you’ll be more difficult to replace.

The problem with planning for long term part time is that it’s not worth the hassle for employers so they plan to get rid of you. Long term part time is also less likely to be able to be covered by family childcare.

And absences not a given. Particularly in areas with low rates.

@TeaInMyStoneCup

I was kinda hoping though that more folks would now give a shiny shit given all we now know in addition to what we are witnessing unfold all over the globe

Which is what? That this is a nasty illness that is predominantly dangerous to the elderly (and yes, age is the biggest risk factor) and that in a small minority of cases seems to cause a longer term effect?

Neither of those things make me feel that schools shouldn't open.

www.facebook.com/6622931938/posts/10158124259506939/?vh=e&extid=CRO8wjluhpRJNtoP

I’m self employed and work for many clients who would drop me if I keep being unavailable to work at the drop of a hat. I am at risk of losing clients having already lost some who cute budgets so I face a different risk.

I imagine many self employed (many of whom have had zero financial help) would be the same. Not all of course. We all have very different situations.

If I was still office based and still running a team, I would rather work with the staff to have a long term plan that allowed project dates to be shifted than have them isolating on and off because that would have really left us in the lurch especially when project deadlines loomed.

I’d be more annoyed with the employee who kept having to go off.

So that’s where I’m coming from.

It is such a hard time for all of us but I don’t see many bosses tolerating a constant need for time off to isolate.

My concerns are the same as yours really but on opposite sides of the coin. While I’d rather plan for something sustainable you’d believe it’ll all be on. Neither of us is wrong or right.

Some more scrupulous bosses may plot to get rid.

And yes low case areas might fare better. I’m in a lockdown area so see it from that point of view. Maybe we need different approaches based on infection levels? When infection is practically zero locally obviously full time would work

@Summersnearlyover
My child has severe SEN and underlying health issues, he won’t be returning in September and there will be no fines for me
Can I ask, is he one of the few children still on the shielding list or have school said they won't fine?

@TeaInMyStoneCup
don't really know why people are saying "look, schools have reopened and there are cases". Of course there are cases. Was anyone expecting that there wouldn't be?
Well the narrative we have been sold is that children are either not getting it or not transmitting it...depending on which study is wheeled out. Plus you'd kind of hope they wouldn't be sending medically vulnerable adults and children, who have been deemed high risk enough to have been shielding for months, back to an unsafe environment

You can screech about how difficult not will be to work if schools have to send children home all you like. It doesn't make school staff immune to Covid so there will have to be another way (and that isn't the same as saying schools should close).

You can screech about how difficult not will be to work

Try not to be so rude. Many parents are facing losing livelihoods and homes over this.

How do teachers think it’ll work for them btw? If their child’s school is off but there’s isnt?

Some more scrupulous bosses may plot to get rid.

I wouldn’t even say it’s unscrupulous. Many bosses have tough decisions to make and having someone not available makes that a bit easier. They need people who can build up the business for them. But drop to 2.5 days a week.

Free lancing would be much easier to manage than being an employee, I think that’s a key difference.