In school staff rotas during lockdown

[Snowboarder45]

My primary school is a hub. We have children of keyworkers attending from ours and 6 other local primaries 7.30-6pm. All teachers are responsible for home learning during term time. Some teachers and TAs are on the rota others are not. The staff who opted out of being in school did so on the last day of school citing family members who had asthma or other vulnerabilities. However, guidance from the Dfe and asthma society has since become much clearer, naming medications and dosage of the most severe asthmatics. I believe these suffers also will have received a letter telling them to isolate for 12 weeks. The guidance quite clearly states that family members do not to sheild but take great care to ensure surfaces and hands are washed thoroughly along with phyicscal distancing.. At this point where do schools stand when staff members are not willing to put themselves on the rota? Have other schools had experience of this and how has it been handled?

I’m a teacher in a small primary. We have 20 staff and 6 have agreed to be on the rota.
I fully understand staff who have a need to isolate but over half of those not in have made the choice based on their fear of catching the virus/ the fact they have their own children (some are teenagers!)
What can you say to that? We are all worried - I also have my own children.
Class teachers have been asked to post once per week in the learning platform and to check daily on any work so they are doing maximum 30 mins a day wfh.
The head has sent an email kindly asking if anyone else can volunteer but this was met with silence.
I feel the head is too nice at the detriment to those of us going in.
What can I do?
I feel like complaining but I’m in different days on the rota to the head. If I email I feel like it would be seen as vindictive towards those who should be in.
I have seen the true colours of my colleagues.
Sorry this doesn’t answer your question OP. Just to say that I am in a similar situation with others not willing to be on the rota when they could and should be and nothing seems to be done about it.

Could the OP be more clear about what teachers are:

1. Required to do
2. Asked to do.

We are asking staff with children to bring them with them otherwise burden falls on just too few people and risks are raised.

Imagine if medical and nursing staff could opt out so easily from attending work. What state would the country be in then.

We were not given an option to opt out. We're being paid, therefore we go in.

Your LA should have now issued your HT with clear guidelines.

The HT is then responsible for sharing these and speaking to individual members of staff. If they are meant to be available for work but are saying they are not (eg living with someone who is shielding & the guidelines clearly state that does not preclude them from working) then the HT should be speaking to them about being on unpaid leave.

No one wants to be in a hub school as it makes you more vulnerable to catching COVID-19 then staying at home, but if everyone who is able to is on the rota it means less risk for all staff.

We had this at my school, initially lots not on the rota but following new guidance and advice from HR most went back on. Although more may need to isolate for a week/ two weeks as time goes on. We now only have 4 out of a staff of around 70 who aren’t on the rota. I’m one of them but I have very genuine reasons.

With almost everyone on the rota, individuals are only going in once every three-four weeks and wfh for the rest of the time.

Imagine if medical and nursing staff could opt out so easily from attending work. What state would the country be in then

Oh look. A windmill.

Staff should be available to work as directed unless they are shielded or live with someone shielding or are themselves vulnerable. Schools with plenty of available staff could also make allowances for staff who live with vulnerable people. We are all afraid and it shouldn’t fall to just a few to provide the key worker childcare. HR advice should back this up. Unpaid leave for anyone who won’t work.

Asking for volunteers to work over Easter is reasonable. Term time is another issue and staff should work as directed unless shielded etc.

My school is staffed with SLT, volunteers atm. However we have enough volunteers that each person only needs to be in school 1 day in 3 weeks so far. We had lots of in the beginning with people or there families developing coughs but that seems to have reduced as people have recovers and government guidelines have become clearer.

The expectation is that if you are at home you check your emails 3 x throughout the day, respond to student queries, provide feedback and work on admin for this / next year during your normal working hours. If you are not able to work normal hours due to looking after your own children you make up the hours throughout the day/evening.

Staff that are deemed vulnerable at our school are working from home and have plenty to keep them busy, or they can work in school but not be with the children, again plenty of other jobs to do.
Everyone else has been put on a rota system of being in school or WFH.
Not one member of staff is at home doing nothing and nobody could ‘opt out’ of working.

I teach in a small SEMH secondary school so we are still open. Staff have been put on a rota except for those
a) with health concerns
b) with childcare needs
c) who get public transport to work

I obviously don’t have an issue with category a but once everyone in any of those groups is removed we are left with 6 members of staff (2 teachers [including me], 3 TAs and a mentor).
We are meant to staff the school 2 weeks on and two weeks off for the next however long? It seems crazy to me. I have no issue doing my share (I was in Wednesday and Thursday last week and will be in all next week voluntarily) but I strongly suspect we will end up closing as we cannot staff or categories b and c will end up being directed in.

I'm a teacher, I work PT yet am working more than normal at the moment to make up time for those who 'can't come in'. It's infuriating, they have no health issues or genuine excuse for not being able to come to work. It's sad to see that some people have such little team spirit and won't just muck in at a time like this. We are all scared, we all have families to care for. If everyone did their bit we'd all be in less!

This is something we are starting to look at. At first we let so many off as were advised to do so by government and external HR advise but now things are becoming clearer we need to decide do we start contacting staff to get more details and potentially tell them if they stay off its unpaid? Baring in mind the majority of staff have to work once a fortnight and many can't work from home so thats all they have to do where as some of us can work from home so still doing our full job.

I think in this situation the issue is putting your life first becomes acceptable. No One should compare us to doctors or nurses. That’s not what we signed up for. No teacher ever envisaged a situation where they were at risk of a deadly virus

I wonder if some of you realise how selfish you sound. You don’t know your colleagues circumstances. Why do you want those teachers in work? Because you are jealous? You have some overblown sense of fairness? If you are at work then so should they? Have you seen an asthmatic turn blue? Seen their bodies drain of energy because all they can concentrate on is breathing? Would you forgive yourself if you brought home a virus that could potentially kill your loved ones? All for the sake of a few English lessons. That teacher who felt pressured to go into school who is a single parent and died leaving their children orphans? Or is forced to bring their child to school and they get ill? Sometimes we do things for the greater good. I’m sure your colleagues will be working from home. I’m disgusted by this thread. When life throws you some difficult circumstances is this how you want to be treated or thought of?

I don’t think anyone has an issue with those who have a genuine medical need to stay at home staying at home. I know staff have been working at home, I did it too when I wasn’t on rota to be in school.

I guess I just have an issue with the idea of my life being worth less than someone else’s because I don’t or won’t or can’t have children.

I have a younger brother who is severely autistic. He currently lives with my mum and will live with me when she is unable to care for him anymore. Or at least he will if I don’t die before then. In that situation he will have to go into the kind of supported living homes they make those wonderful Panorama programs about. Is his life worth less than someone’s child because he’s an adult? Because he has special needs? These are rhetorical questions, my point is that it is a dangerous game to start deciding whose lives are worth protecting and whose are worth risking because no system can take all the variable into consideration.

I think that if someone with children has access to a car then yes they should be directed to work and the children can be separated. Most schools have plenty of rooms and low enough numbers to make this work.

And finally, at this point it’s not about “a few English lessons.” It’s about enabling key workers to go to work and protecting children and families in vulnerable, volatile, neglectful and sometimes violent situations.

Most of the staff saying they couldn't be on a rota have now asked to be put on - checked with doctors etc. Only 2 pregnant women haven't.

I went to school this week, we had between 5 and 14 children, changed during the day due to parent shifts. It was fun - because it's the school holidays, we just played. I don't want to not go in. I am sleeping in the spare room for a week just in case, and did proper washing of clothes and self when I got in. Probably less problematic than going to the supermarket.

My list for working at home is massive, but I have a partner who is trying to work full time, and a 5 year old to teach and occupy. I'm definitely NOT twiddling my thumbs. If anything I'm more knackered than usual.

Would be happy to take a significant pay cut and just be expected to work 3 days or something tbh.

It will be up to you SLT to use their policies and work out who can and who shouldn't be at work.

Have you combined with other schools to create a hub and are therefore have a larger staffing pool?

Asthma is very scary, I know my child was on the shielding dosage last year but because we've spent a good few years balancing inhalers and medication, working out triggers, etc we've weaned down to a lower dosage so yes I'm still scared of it!

Lots of my colleagues haven't volunteered, genuinely because so many of them have personal circumstances which are very genuine but then our hubs are very underused so it hasn't been an issue yet. However, everyone I know working from home is doing over and above to teach online and contact their pupils.

I'm in a primary school and was happy to go in (went in for the first 2 weeks and am off the rota for the Easter holidays).

We're a large school so have a lot of staff wfh (various reasons eg pregnant, own health concerns or health issues in the family). Tbh, some of the staff who weren't comfortable coming in have issues which aren't severe enough for them to be entitled to stay at home but our HT has been very sympathetic and there are enough of us in school to be able to have a rota.

The teachers working at home are doing the planning for both home and school learning. Those of us going into school are there for the children but don't have to plan, marking is just verbal with the children and then a tick so our workload is much less than in prelockdown days. I'm more than happy with the set-up.

Thenshesaidmore are you in a hub? How is it working? Talking to colleagues in different schools that are open, seems like pool of available staff would reduce rather than increase. Some willing to be included to go to own school and work with children they know, but would not be so eager to mix with children and staff from other schools. And if you keep them all apart, you’re not really using fewer staff (apart from a first aider maybe) or have I missed something?

We are paid key workers and are therefore required to work when directed unless there is a medical reason why we can’t. That’s what our LA have said and I think that sounds right. It’s not about whether or not you want to go in!

Our LA have also said that if a member of staff refuses to go in when directed then it becomes unauthorised, unpaid leave for the whole period of school closure. Obviously doesn’t apply to the shielded.

@Pud2 thanks, that sounds pretty clear. But where do they draw the line on the shielded? What if you live with someone who is shielded? Would you be exempt? I know of heads who have moved out of their family home so they can still go in but not risk family’s health. One thing for that to be voluntary, quite another to demand it.

And what if a staff member doesn’t drive? Can they be compelled to use public transport to get to a different workplace?

If it’s really about child care for key workers, I don’t really understand why schools, and why teachers, I suppose. There are lots of people with DBSs not working at present ( after school club providers, peri music teachers, sports coaches, childminders etc). Why not commandeer whichever suitable public building (probably a primary school) is nearest to the hospital and run flexible 7am to 7pm care and staff with workforce not able to work at present? Other key workers could access too, albeit might be less convenient location,, but longer hours would make up for that. Then all teachers could focus on supporting their own pupils at home.

Just struggling to see the logic of the model.

I am a DSL working from home (doing my contracted hours and more besides) as my youngest child is only 18 months old. I couldn't bring him into work with me, a secondary school environment wouldn't be safe for him and I wouldn't be able to do my job with him there. The only reason I can do it from home is because DH is also WFH and we take it in turns to work and look after the DC in shifts. I am finding juggling work, toddler wrangling and attempting to home-school older DC really stressful. I am missing my team, the kids I work with and the school environment and can't wait for all this to be over. I really hope that my colleagues don't resent me and think that I'm 'opting out' of doing my job or that I think my life is "worth more than theirs" because I have children and they don't!