Schools MUST stay open.

[motherrunner]

I hear this a lot on MN.

Schools maybe ‘open’ but they’re not really depending on where you live.

I’m in Tier 2, due to go into Tier 3 next week prior to the lockdown rules.

Since Sept Yr 10 have isolated twice (4 weeks out of a 8 week half term), Yr 12 and 13 three times (6 weeks of a 8 week half term). My own DS is isolating due to being in contact with a positive until next week and I am isolating until next week as one of my pupils tested positive (and before anyone asks why I wasn’t 2m away well let’s just say, that’s school life).

Before lockdown in March my school had to close just to the numbers of staff off, at one point admin staff were supervising classes.

This morning I read a comment from a poster on the ‘lockdown my thread that teachers just have to ‘hope’ they get a mild viral load. Have we become so disillusioned with this virus that because “schools must stay open” then we minimise they health of school staff?

I am happy to be back teaching my pupils, I’m not happy that I feel unsafe. I am not happy that other workplaces have ‘Covid secure’ measures but I have sanitiser and a ‘hope for the best’ attitude.

So, if you really want schools to stay open then please email your MP and voice concerns about safety and hopefully we can stay open in a meaningful way because there’s a difference between ‘schools open’ with us delivering a quality education and ‘schools open’ with a body providing childcare.

Because this idiotic government won’t agree with ANYONE so if the unions make other demands then maybe just maybe the government will at least put some safety measures and funding into schools!

If they want parental support, then the way to do that is to focus on sensible demands they can get behind.

What they’re demanding now is tailor made to alienate parents.

While this government are an utter shower, other sectors have managed to focus on what’s important for the people who work there, without going down the route of threatening closures (health workers and so on).

I can support all kinds of measure to improve safety in schools, but neither the government nor parents can support closures that will force people capable of generating tax revenue at this time out of jobs and into benefits.

And if the education sector really understood the impact this will all have on public finances in the months and years to come, they wouldn’t be very keen either.

@Summerfreeze

I hope the teachers strike. It’s outrageous the way they’re being treated.

This

Bit confused as to why people needing to 'pay their mortgage' is being called selfish. If having a job/salary isn't important, and health is the only thing that matters, why don't teachers who are concerned about safety just resign?

I presume it is because they either need the money (to pay their mortgage) and/or believe deeply in the importance of the job they are doing. This is exactly the same situation for non-teachers too..... who (as well as needing a salary) may also have a key/essential job.

@Timtims

Bit confused as to why people needing to 'pay their mortgage' is being called selfish. If having a job/salary isn't important, and health is the only thing that matters, why don't teachers who are concerned about safety just resign?

I presume it is because they either need the money (to pay their mortgage) and/or believe deeply in the importance of the job they are doing. This is exactly the same situation for non-teachers too..... who (as well as needing a salary) may also have a key/essential job.

Teachers who are concerned about safety are not resigning because they care about children and believe deeply in the importance of the job they are doing.

However, most are reaching the very limits of how willing they are to be exploited for this altruism.

Of course the schools being open is not just about childcare . It’s about the children’s mental health as well .

That’s what parents were saying was so important.

Some people are desperate to twist anything they can to score political points .

Also, be careful what you wish for....I know no teachers who are NOT concerned about safety, so if they ALL resign.....

@Unsure33

Of course the schools being open is not just about childcare . It’s about the children’s mental health as well .

That’s what parents were saying was so important.

Some people are desperate to twist anything they can to score political points .

So children's mental health is worth the sacrifice of the mental and physical health of staff? Or is that not quite what you mean?

@cantkeepawayforever

Also, be careful what you wish for....I know no teachers who are NOT concerned about safety, so if they ALL resign.....

Timtims wasn’t saying that teachers shouldn’t be concerned about safety, though. Just that it makes no sense to berate non-teachers for wanting to work, when the reasons non-teachers have for wanting to work are often the same reasons teachers have for wanting to work.

I think we also run the risk of making schools responsible for EVERYTHING:

Child hunger - school meals (not social services)
Child abuse / neglect - schools (not social services)
Child mental health - schools (not the health service)
Child exploitation / gangs - schools (not police)
Childcare - schools (not parents or other providers)
Modification of child behaviour - schools (not parents)
Identification of SEN - mainstream schools (not special schools, not medical staff, not Ed psychs)

Education - yes, in partnership with parents, that we ARE responsible for. Identification of SEN, I agree we should be the front line. The rest - not so sure.

I'm really concerned for my DD who is a secondary school teacher.
She says it is impossible to socially distance, the kids moan about being cold if the windows are open and she is juts hoping she doesn't get it too badly. She definitely thinks it is a case of "when" and not "if".

Rather more important than mortgages, I think.

Just that it makes no sense to berate non-teachers for wanting to work, when the reasons non-teachers have for wanting to work are often the same reasons teachers have for wanting to work.

I want to work.

I want to work SAFELY.

My desire to work, and non teachers' desire to work, should not trump the health and safety implications of the school as a workplace.

@cantkeepawayforever

Yes THIS!!! I don’t understand why so many posters will not join the call for greater safety measures in schools! Why not?!?!

Actually I do. If they start even slightly agreeing that schools are unsafe workplaces then they’re worried schools will end up closing. It’s very shortsighted and selfish.

@Glitterynails

Actually I do. If they start even slightly agreeing that schools are unsafe workplaces then they’re worried schools will end up closing. It’s very shortsighted and selfish.

That's exactly it. We all have to play along with the fiction that schools are safe in order not to 'scare the parents'. Or something.

@Parker231

Sams - at the school I’ve a governor at the headteacher stands outside with a loud speaker telling parents to drop off and go - it’s a sight to be seen and appears to be working.

Your head is a hero! This needs to happen outside every school!

[quote Glitterynails]@cantkeepawayforever

Yes THIS!!! I don’t understand why so many posters will not join the call for greater safety measures in schools! Why not?!?![/quote]
Who isn't? There's a ton of people in this thread and in all the other threads on this subject saying yes they should be safer, yes the government should fund them to do this, no this shouldn't mean closing. And I think that would be a far more productive conversation to have than "schools should close!" vs "schools should not close!", (although according to some posters this makes me a selfish parent who wants teachers to die so I can pay my mortgage, but there we are...)

Unions are misjudging this - yes to more protection and money. I think many parents would contribute to this if we could.

That idiot parent group in Scotland are already whining that they want data on mask wearing now that senior pupils will be asked to wear them. This is literally one of the most positive steps for keeping schools open. But no, it's not enough. They literally want their magical thinking to prevail and schools magically stay open.

@GoldenOmber if you support schools staying open ONLY if staff gets better safety measures then you and I are on the same side. It is not okay to demand that schools stay open regardless of how safe it is made for staff.

My favourite quote so far regarding schools / universities/childcare..

'A complete lockdown that doesn't include education is like cleaning your teeth whilst eating a bag of cheesy wotsits'

ALL or NOTHING. !

Can I just say ... for me it's ALL .. I am not a teacher but fgs WHY should they should cannon fodder ?

@Bailey0703

My favourite quote so far regarding schools / universities/childcare..

'A complete lockdown that doesn't include education is like cleaning your teeth whilst eating a bag of cheesy wotsits'

ALL or NOTHING. !

It might be catchy, but it's also bollocks, given that other countries ARE managing to stop cases rising while keeping schools and childcare open.

Absolutely though this need to be done while making things safe for school and childcare staff, and the children.

Why not a compromise of two weeks school closure as a circuit break and then only schools re-open in the two weeks after that?

It might be catchy, but it's also bollocks, given that other countries ARE managing to stop cases rising while keeping schools and childcare open

Name them.

Actually GlitteryNails that is a smart compromise .