Let me C&P my responses:
I wrote a load of questions to him about safety of adults in the school environment (specifically adults, no mention of children at all). I also didn't say I wanted to close schools. He wrote back:
I am absolutely supportive of the Government's approach to keep schools and other educational establishments open. The risk to children from the virus is very low and they have already lost months in education which, as we know, impacts the most disadvantaged the most. As the Prime Minister said, 'we have a moral duty to keep schools open now that it is safe to do so, because we must not let this virus damage our children’s futures'. The Government are also massively expanding testing for schools and I am believe the extensive measures already put in place by schools will mean children are impacted as little as possible.
So, I wrote back:
I'm not very concerned about children and the direct impact of contracting covid. They will all be fine. My concerns are about staff.
Now we've been back at school for 8 working days, I can add mental health of staff to my concerns. Did anyone actually consider what it might be like on a purely logistical basis when they were lobbying for schools to be fully open? For what it's worth I also think schools should be open, especially primary schools, but more consideration needs to have been given to staff health and wellbeing.
At the moment, all of our senior leadership team are not in school due to lockdown shielding. This means we are very short staffed. There is no extra funding for money for soap, let alone replacement management staff. Other staff without the skill set are being asked to step up and make decisions they haven't been trained for, or are experienced to make. Behaviour of the children is extremely challenging (and this is across the board, read the BBC article from yesterday), they break 'bubbles' all the time, yet we have no recourse. The guidance says keep the children in school even if they put the health of staff at risk. Super. Like I asked - are we expendable? I can't even get a flu vaccine due to lack of availability, and I'm not on any priority lists for regular testing or even this alleged incredible vaccine. Yet I am expected to be in school without PPE and surrounded by children who quite literally cough into my face.
We know that children's symptoms of covid are not the same as adults. We KNOW THIS. Please see the Zoe app research for detail. Yet we can't send children home unless they exhibit the three main adult symptoms. Even then, parents don't have to prove that their child has had a negative test result before they are sent back to school. I have had 9 parents in my class lie about this since the beginning of October. The children said they'd been tested, while parroting parents, but hadn't a clue what the test entailed. This is further putting my health at risk.
And don't give me your nonsense about caring for the most disadvantaged children, when you voted only a week or so ago to not bother feeding them.
I don't want you to quote 'our' Prime Minister, he is a liar and a blustering fool. Nothing he says can be taken as honest or sometimes even, an actual sentence. I know what he has apparently said, I want someone to stand up for school staff in parliament, I want someone to answer some actual questions about it at press conferences. Does the Tory party consider school staff expendable?
And he wrote back:
Thank you for your email. I do understand your concern for teachers at this time but I do not support the call for schools to close.
Measures are in place to keep teachers, children and other school staff safe. Safety has been Ministers’ upmost concern throughout and I know that if the situation changes they won’t hesitate to act.
To help educational settings prepare, detailed plans for nurseries, schools, special schools and colleges were published in July that set out what was required to deliver a full return as safely as possible. The guidance was developed with medical and scientific experts and follows regular engagement with the education sector. If schools follow the guidance set out here and maximise control measures, they can be confident they are managing risk effectively.
I know that some teachers have expressed concerns about the guidance on PPE in schools, which states that it will not be needed in the majority of cases. It is important to note from all we know so far children are at least risk from the current pandemic. The full guidance can be found here – www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools
Staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to work from home and not to go into work. Individuals in this group will have been identified through a letter from the NHS or from their GP, and may have been advised to shield in the past. Staff should talk to their employers about how they will be supported, including to work from home where possible, during the period of national restrictions.
All other staff should continue to attend work, including those living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable. Staff and children who are clinically vulnerable or have underlying health conditions but are not clinically extremely vulnerable, may continue to attend school in line with current guidance.
I hope you will be reassured to know also that priority access to testing is available to all those involved in education, childcare or social work.
If you have any specific concerns about the safety of a particular school, do let me know and I can look into this.
So, he and I are about to fall out.