To be horrified at kids being 'labelled' like this ?

[espressotogo]

DD senior school age goes back tomorrow - no exemptions and she will be masked up as requested despite my absolute disgust at the policy. The school has asserted that children with exemptions will need to provide proof and will be made to wear a badge or lanyard to show their exemption on school property and transport.
AIBU to be horrified that children will be 'badged' like this - surely not wearing the mask is sufficient to show their exemption for a policy that is advisory and with zero proof of efficacy ?

Children move round schools multiple times a day and pass multiple teachers, some of them will have no clue of that child's name so actually quite difficult.

Yep. So let the teachers of each class check who is and isn't wearing one and match it up to notes in the register of who is exempt. I don't see why teachers should be hassling pupils they do not even teach who are simply moving between classes.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33431650/

This is an official study that proves that masks work.

Please stop spreading misinformation that they don't work.

Because 1/2 the kids I see in corridors ( who is a huge secondary I don’t even know their names) will tell me they are exempt.

Our have lanyards but many choose to keep them in their pockets and show us when we ask them
To put on a mask-‘not really a hardship

@ChannelTheCalmaLlama

don't see why teachers should be hassling pupils they do not even teach who are simply moving between classes.

Because we need to ensure all kids follow the schools rules. Otherwise it would be anarchy

Presumably you do know the children who are in your classes?

I'm talking about the hundreds of children who are not in my classes.

Who need to be reminded to put masks on because they are mostly not exempt.

@ChannelTheCalmaLlama

Children move round schools multiple times a day and pass multiple teachers, some of them will have no clue of that child's name so actually quite difficult.

Yep. So let the teachers of each class check who is and isn't wearing one and match it up to notes in the register of who is exempt. I don't see why teachers should be hassling pupils they do not even teach who are simply moving between classes.

Do you think covid isn't an issue when 2000 kids are moving round a school? Or other safety issues for that matter, of course teachers will be in corridors passing children and supervising children. So what if they are wearing a mask when they are sitting in a maths lesson, doesn't mean they have had it on between lessons.

Because they are meant to be wearing masks in corridors where they are closely mixing with hundreds of others who are not in their classes or year groups, teachers need to remind kids to put them on in corridors too.

It’s particularly an issue as students come into the corridors from outside where they are not wearing a mask and forget to put it on.

I worked in a secondary school last year. To be completely honest, management decided we had to have those who are exempt wear lanyards, because otherwise staff were constantly stopping them and asking where there mask was, and we had far too many students saying "I'm exempt!" When they absolutely were not and were choosing to not wear a mask simply to flout the rules. Despite the pictures shown on TV of social distancing, at lesson changeover the corridors were absolutely packed with kids and staff shoulder to shoulder (due to old style of school buildings, school did everything they could but simply couldn't make more room to distance everyone) so as staff we enforced mask wearing very strictly because we didn't want to take the virus home to our families.

A list of exempt children can be forwarded to teachers of each class to sit alongside their register so that they know. Not really difficult to do.
1400 on roll. What do we do in the corridor?

Good to see people who clearly don’t work in schools trying to patronise those who do with their ‘simple’ (unworkable) solutions.

@noblegiraffe

Good to see people who clearly don’t work in schools trying to patronise those who do with their ‘simple’ (unworkable) solutions.

You teechurs are doing it wrong!

@ChannelTheCalmaLlama

And hwo do you propose the staff monitor who's meant to have one and who isn't? Would you be happy for your exempt child to be asked 6 times a day by different teachers?

A list of exempt children can be forwarded to teachers of each class to sit alongside their register so that they know. Not really difficult to do.

Do you know what's even less difficult to do? Issue the exempt children with a lanyard or something similar.

A list of exempt children can be forwarded to teachers of each class to sit alongside their register so that they know. Not really difficult to do.

I'm sure that there are more pressing things to do in schools than cross check everyone you see without a mask (assuming that they give a truthful name in the first place) As long as staff are also wearing lanyards it is far quicker for someone to see a lanyard and say nothing.

Ministers have asked schools to impose mask mandates. Schools didn't ask for this extra responsibility

I find it amazing how given how much we know about coronavirus that people are objecting to wearing a mask and the scientific illiteracy that this demonstrates. Just wear a mask a proper one not a silly snood type thing.

@steppemum

Very interesting interview I heard last night OP.

In US the maks wearing in schools varies from school district to school district.
Some have been made to wear masks for months, others have never had to.
They are now analysing data from the different districts. Obviously taking into account rural v. urban etc they have found

1. in schools where kids wear masks, fewer kids have been off sick with Covid.
2. in schools where kids wear masks, there are fewer staff abscences due to Covid.
3. In the families of the kids in the schools where they are wearing masks, there are fewer cases of Covid.

Now I am not a fan of masks, but those figures were pretty compelling.

Yes, I saw this too - very compelling evidence that masks work.

Ventilation also works and has some compelling evidence behind it - imagine if we had both at once!

I don't dispute that some people might find them very difficult to wear, but impossible for them for 15 minutes in the supermarket? Really? I think for most people it's a case of not wanting to wear one.

This is a thread about children wearing them all day in school though, not for 15 minutes. My DS can tolerate a mask for 15 minutes. Longer than that and he’ll have chewed it so much it’s next to useless. Thankfully he’s still at primary school so not an issue, but it might be next year if all this is still going on when he goes to high school. His dad and I have no problem with wearing masks, and have worn them in shops and on public transport since summer 2020. I dearly wish DS could wear a mask, but I’m also extremely glad we live in country where exemptions are allowed.

@BlossomingSlowly

I worked in a secondary school last year. To be completely honest, management decided we had to have those who are exempt wear lanyards, because otherwise staff were constantly stopping them and asking where there mask was, and we had far too many students saying "I'm exempt!" When they absolutely were not and were choosing to not wear a mask simply to flout the rules. Despite the pictures shown on TV of social distancing, at lesson changeover the corridors were absolutely packed with kids and staff shoulder to shoulder (due to old style of school buildings, school did everything they could but simply couldn't make more room to distance everyone) so as staff we enforced mask wearing very strictly because we didn't want to take the virus home to our families.

And also the mask wearing helps protects the vulnerable (CV or CEV) kids in school. Teachers have a responsibility to protect the safety of those vulnerable children - so need to ensure that kids who should be wearing masks but don't want to actually do it.

My DD said that last term it was only the CV and CEV kids wearing masks all the time - so they stood out then, in a bid to not catch a virus that could hospitalise them. They didn't complain that it marked them out, presumably as they were too worried about their health.

The alternative is that students who can’t wear masks receive remote education. Teachers in secondary schools may teach hundreds of students. They can’t possibly remember the exemption status of every student. They need a visual signal that tells them the student is indeed exempt and not just trying to get away with not wearing a mask.

Not sure if this is the studies referenced by some pps

www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0924-school-masking.html

Noticed this one too

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7021e1.htm

The constant stream of unmasked people, often young adults,getting on public transport are presumably all excempt! Exempt from caring about spreading the virus, selfish idiots.

@Blossom64265

The alternative is that students who can’t wear masks receive remote education. Teachers in secondary schools may teach hundreds of students. They can’t possibly remember the exemption status of every student. They need a visual signal that tells them the student is indeed exempt and not just trying to get away with not wearing a mask.

Hmm so little sticker on his id badge Vs homeschooling. I know which I'd pick.

"The alternative is that students who can’t wear masks receive remote education"

That wouldn't be the alternative because it would be considered unreasonable. I see no issue with a lanyard or a badge ( or a card to show for any pupil that really objects - this wouldn't be many as it is more hassle for the pupil) but saying certain children ( many with a medical condition or disability) cannot be in school is going too far.

@noblegiraffe

Good to see people who clearly don’t work in schools trying to patronise those who do with their ‘simple’ (unworkable) solutions.

I'm not even a teacher, went to a relatively small school under 600 kids, and even I can see the "simple" solutions won't work.