NASUWT advice re school closures etc

[noblegiraffe]

Some much welcome and comprehensive advice from the NASUWT www.nasuwt.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/09f46f4e-4971-4be4-aa87fbc8792942eb.pdf

Including advice for vulnerable staff members who may need to stay off work, pay around self-isolation and so on.

Importantly - if the schools close, teachers should not be required to go in, especially not to ‘help with deep cleaning’ (as suggested on another thread ), potential issues around safeguarding and recording of online sessions etc.

And “There should be no attempt made to split or double up classes or increase class sizes to accommodate teacher absence. If this is proposed in your school then contact should immediately be made with the NASUWT for advice.”

Or all a union meeting and collectively push the point or elect a new rep. A union is only as strong as its members.

It’s all a bit boiling frog at the moment though, Breathless. Hard to get any sort of collective action when literally no one knows what is going on.

It would be easier to act against a head who is demanding that staff come in and deep clean a school if the school was actually in that position, but at the moment it’s all up in the air.

Piggy the chief science officer was on the Today programme yesterday and explained the reasoning behind the approach which made sense. You can listen to it here www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000g4fk starts about 2hrs11 in.

I've heard him. Trouble is , I'm an old cynic. He is on the government payroll.

Yeah but piggy, he had graphs. I don’t think the graphs came from Boris.

Boris is a lazy arse and I’m quite willing to believe that he has handed control of this over to the boffins.

Which is quite refreshing after ‘we’ve had enough of experts’.

WHO and many epidemiologists at the London school for tropical diseases and infectious medicines think our approach is too little.

What the government experts will be doing is balancing the number of deaths against the economy. They will be working to an acceptable death rate. They won't be trying to save all the vulnerable, that will be too costly.

But the WHO is advocating shutting down everything and trying to stop the virus so of course they’ll think we’re doing too little as it doesn’t fit with their plan of action which is an entirely different approach.

Our scientists have been quite clear what they think the problem is with that approach and it’s not that it won’t stop the spread in the short term.

Yeah, Gove has been quiet...

But what if there is no immunity? What if the virus stays dormant and re emerges like herpes, chicken pox etc? What if there is long term lung damage or other damage?
There is evidence for lung damage. But not for immunity....
I think their model is based on flu and doesn't take into account the unknowns about this virus.

Everything should be don't to stop the spread. Not aim for an unproven herd immunity. It's unethical and immoral.
If they want me to teach 300 potential infected students for an hour or more at a time per week then we should be issued with PPE and the othe students should be as well.

It's not all UK scientists. It is scientists who work for the government vs other scientists.

My friends dad was the chief medical officer in the 80s. He basically quit over a row at being told what to do. That was about lung cancer and links to smoking and, of all things, chewing tobacco, which they wouldn't outlaw.

@fedup21 Cumbria

With SARS-1 people got lung scarring and fibrosis even though they survived. It is not acceptable to put young people or teachers at this risk. I believe laws will be passed to force schools to stay open which is seriously worrying

believe laws will be passed to force schools to stay open which is seriously worrying

Talk of laws to force schools to remain open is genuinely terrifying.

It is just the polar opposite of what just about every other country is doing.

We aren’t safeguarding our staff or our children.

I am wondering how they are coping in countries like Italy and Spain where the schools have closed. Is it possible that because our participation rate of mothers in the workforce is higher than those countries and a lot of our childcare is school based, that we are genuinely in a different situation to them? Just wondering why there aren't stories about healthcare workers in those countries not being able to get to work because of childcare (unless there are and I've missed them?)

Yes, I just wondered that on another thread.

We have absolutely no family close by. Trying not to stress but it is so so hard.

NEU does seem to be more pissed off than NAS at present.

What happens if our children’s schools are shut and we have to take ‘time off for dependents’ that’s about 2-5 days paid and the rest unpaid. So your child’s school shuts but yours doesn’t?

I think that is what they are trying to avoid. It's either all or none. Government opting for none.

Do you think they'll introduce measures for those with asthma and other conditions first?

If you have an underlying health problem you are protected potentially by the equality act and the employment rights act, section 44.

Section 44 protects employees if they refuse to work due to genuine safety concerns. If you feel you are at risk and have a health problem or live with someone who does, please put your health first.

It would be a brave school to take action against a teacher in those circumstances. And your union would support you.

Question : do you think if SH self isolates for 4 months , the whole family will be told to, too? Am I supposed to order DS2 (15) not to go to school and tell DS2 (19) to stay at uni and not come home?

He's not over 70 : does this mean it's just him and he is supposed to stay in a separate room for 4 months?? This is not possible really.

And then what happens if I go out, and get ill.

Am genuinely bewildered by all this.

We are proper 21st century nuclear family : no family nearby. No extended family, no really close friendship groups.

I feel so sad.

But I cannot be bringing CV back to the household to endanger him.

Sorry, top line should say DH.

We have parents eve on Tuesday which I'm really worried about. 220 kids plus parents plus teacher all in one room. I'm actually in agreement with schools still being open but I can't believe the school isn't cancelling Yr8 parents eve.

Piggy that sounds like a horrible situation.

If your DH isolates because he’s vulnerable then you won’t be told to isolate (you’ll only be told to isolate if he’s ill). But if he’s isolated, that means 2m away from family as much as possible, separate room, clean the bathroom before he uses it, which would be unbearable for that long.

In other countries they do temperature checking before allowing people into crowds or the country as it’s usually present in CV. Perhaps you could start that?