AIBU? Bit furious atm so need some level headed advice

[MamaC0909]

Right. I'm feeling absolutely furious but dont know whether I'm blowing it out of all proportion. When schools were locked down in March my child was off as a precaution as she had a cold and school did not want her in. She is currently on the asthma register but only takes a blue inhaler and GP has said she is very low risk. When schools were closed and the key worker school places were confirmed I called my dd school and said as she was better could she come back in and also have a key worker place to which I was advised yes. When she went in she was thrown out of the school within 10 mins of the school day with her pe kit in one hand and her personal belongings in the other and told she wasnt allowed in school due to having asthma I tried to say that the office staff had said she was fine to come in but nobody listened. She was distraught and I was upset too as she is in year 6. Fast forward to this week and we have had to confirm whether she is attending as per government guidelines so I emailed the head to make sure she was ok to come back as I did not want to send her and find out she couldnt stay as no provision for child on the asthma register been released. I had an email confirming that she can go back but in future please will I not email the headteacher if I need discuss my childs medical issues and it is dealt with by the school office, who said she was ok to go in but then the head threw her out. I am furious at the way I've been spoken to via email. This is a serious situation we are all going through at the moment and I felt we need it clarified. AIBU?

Everyone is on eggshells atm. You will be moving on shortly. Asthmatics are deemed medically vulnerable and therefore there needs to be particular care with social distancing around them. Advice and risk assessments will be constantly changing.

Totally which is why, after the incorrect advice was initially given, I contacted the head who's mantra is we have a open door policy and we can contact them about anything. It's the tone of the email (written by office staff) reminding me that I should not contact the head about these matters and I was reprimanded like a naughty schoolgirl. I've calmed down a bit this morning.

No YANBU and I would be tempted to reply in a perfectly politely but firmly way along the lines of: ordinarily, that is indeed the system you would follow but in this case that system was ineffective given an apparent discrepancy between policies of the office and headteacher, or miscommunications between the same. Given that that discrepancy resulted in the very serious situation of your child being required to leave school grounds immediately (with no adult supervision?), you are not prepared to take the same course of action again without additional reassurance that the system has been fixed and the same result will not occur. In this case, direct assurance from the head teacher. (So there.)

Agree with previous. Important also to note, that unless someone has clinically severe asthma, taking regular steroid medication etc, they are not in the most vulnerable risk group, and they would have been advised to shield for 12 weeks. So in your case, your school was absolutely wrong to effectively remove your child from school in this way. Our child who is 12 week shielding, was in school until the last week, and although she is clinically high risk and the school is very aware of her condition, they fully respect our decisions on her care. Sounds like yours should too.

Thank you for all your replies. she has never had steroid medication only a blue inhaler to be used as and when necessary. I fully appreciate it's a hard time for all of us but a school that prides itself on it's open house policy should not be ending emails with comments like that. I think it makes it worse as I am also a parent governor for the school too and I just think its disrespect to talk to any parent like that. Fully supportive if they were asking unnecessary questions and were constantly emailing but I felt that this was a necessary email.

As others have said, if she only has a blue inhaler then she’s not classed as either vulnerable or shielded. Asthma UK has good advice.

I’m surprised governors have not been advised by the head regarding health of dc and whether they can attend school or not. Admittedly it’s operational but you would expect governors to be aware of when children could come into school. The school is wrong and you can hopefully sort it out. I agree it’s not a reasonable way to talk to parents.

I’m surprised governors have not been advised by the head regarding health of dc and whether they can attend school or not. Admittedly it’s operational but you would expect governors to be aware of when children could come into school.

It is not the role of governors to be involved in individual cases or operational matters.

Heads advise governors on operational matters. The governors don’t make the decision but on contentious issues, at the moment, governors may well be advised of the strategy of the school regarding who is there and who is not. It’s not a matter for discussion but it is a matter of policy right now in such unusual times.