Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) **Mod warning in OP 22/01**

Teacher2020 wrote: »

I'm ruining their child's life by putting too much pressure on, I'm putting a huge mental strain on their family, their child hates me, the sound of my voice is enough to put anyone off learning- that's a flavour of the kind of things I'm getting. Any teacher gets this at some stage in their career but the fact that parents have the ability to contact us day and night means that it is a lot worse. I've received ranting, abusive emails that have been sent at all hours of the night. It just feels like parents are using teachers as punch bags.

That is shocking.

BonsaiKitten wrote: »

"The sound of my voice is enough to put anyone off learning"....seriously, wtf.

If a parent sent anything like that to a teacher at my school, they wouldn't be allowed to directly contact that teacher anymore. All communication would be through office from then on out. Where is your principal in all this? Do they know?

The principal doesn't want to know. Had similar in last lockdown and she said I just need to toughen up and let it wash over my head. She has made it clear that she doesn't want to be contacted by staff if they have issues. She responds with a thumbs up emoji if i text her or just doesnt reply. She doesn't respond to emails or doesn't answer the phone. She hasn't initiated contact with staff since the 7th january when she sent a text to say we were moving online. It's very tough being on your own in this situation. I wish we had a strong principal like your school.

Teacher2020 wrote: »

The principal doesn't want to know. Had similar in last lockdown and she said I just need to toughen up and let it wash over my head. She has made it clear that she doesn't want to be contacted by staff if they have issues. She responds with a thumbs up emoji if i text her or just doesnt reply. She doesn't respond to emails or doesn't answer the phone. She hasn't initiated contact with staff since the 7th january when she sent a text to say we were moving online. It's very tough being on your own in this situation. I wish we had a strong principal like your school.

Is there a more senior member of staff you could approach with this? It isn't fair that any teacher should have to suffer this rubbish at any time but especially so while being so isolated from the school support structure and also being so wide open to abuse via so many avenues.

If you want to rant/vent in private just drop me a PM.

billy_beckham wrote: »

Nope...

Lol....does context mean anything to you?

Only if it suits the hobby horse/agenda I imagine.

Teacher2020 wrote: »

The principal doesn't want to know. Had similar in last lockdown and she said I just need to toughen up and let it wash over my head. She has made it clear that she doesn't want to be contacted by staff if they have issues. She responds with a thumbs up emoji if i text her or just doesnt reply. She doesn't respond to emails or doesn't answer the phone. She hasn't initiated contact with staff since the 7th january when she sent a text to say we were moving online. It's very tough being on your own in this situation. I wish we had a strong principal like your school.

I do love my principal, never met a better one. She's been known to make parents write apology letters - proper old school primary stuff :pac:

That is absolutely shocking and I really feel for you. Can you get onto the INTO and seek advice there? No one should have to take that kind of abuse at work.

In the meantime, I'd turn off your email/Seesaw notifications outside of school hours. Set up an out of office auto-reply if you feel so inclined. That's a great one to curb the expectation of contact on demand.

Mrsmum wrote: »

It must be really horrible being unsupported with that kind of stuff coming at you. That would unnerve anyone. If it's any consolation the comments are so over the line that they say loud and clear that the fault lies with those parents and not with you. They are either not coping at all or are right nasty. Try not to get sucked into the crazy.

I'm trying to figure out what sort of person tells their child's teacher that their child hates them or the sound of their voice is enough to put anyone off learning???

Imagine the example those children are getting.

I hope those comments are very much the exception, I'd be so tempted to just block them and let the Principal deal with them.

khalessi wrote: »

Nope, have heard similar before in a parent teacher meeting mainly because I would not tell them their child was a genius. Told me whole class hated me, untrue we got on great, and that I was a despicable person who was ungodly.

Terrible that principal is turning a blind eye

Ungodly. Love it. I'd get that on a badge myself.

I had one go off once because I didn't reply to her email. That was sent at 11pm. On a Friday. A stream of steadily angrier emails arrived throughout the weekend and she turned up at the principals door on the Monday in an absolute froth.

Principal was ready and waiting with her emails printed out, having highlighted some choice phrases like "a bítch unfit to tie my son's shoes" and "the dregs of the education system".

I'd pay to have been a fly on that wall tbh. :pac:

Teacher2020 wrote: »

The principal doesn't want to know. Had similar in last lockdown and she said I just need to toughen up and let it wash over my head. She has made it clear that she doesn't want to be contacted by staff if they have issues. She responds with a thumbs up emoji if i text her or just doesnt reply. She doesn't respond to emails or doesn't answer the phone. She hasn't initiated contact with staff since the 7th january when she sent a text to say we were moving online. It's very tough being on your own in this situation. I wish we had a strong principal like your school.

I have a principal that is acting in a similar way. Maybe we're in the same school

But seriously, I'm in the same situation but with the added problem that my principal is actively supporting colleagues who do the absolute minimum online. Its a clique of senior teachers in my school (and some of the younger ones which have been adopted) who are getting away with either doing nothing at all or sending an email or two a week. Very difficult to swim against that particular tide or get any support for what I'm trying to do online.

Anyway, sorry that you are going through this and I hope things get better (as I know how it feels).

Stateofyou wrote: »

I didn't make an absurd claim to back up, unlike you. :pac:

You didn't have backup, you had "quickly' googled links according to yourself which didn't have anything whatsoever to do with your claim. As I've already shown.

I'm not sharing evidence of a claim I didn't make. Obviously.

As for the circle jerk of unions/governments making the decisions, do us all a favour and read the last few pages. No one should have to make the same arguments raked over so recently. :rolleyes:

You've shown nothing. Firstly you came out and said I was saying things without basis. When I gave you a basis you tried to pretend it wasn't relevant or misrepresented what it actually said to twist it to support your own position. 
You have provided no evidence to support your own position. Telling me to read the last few pages doesn't count (as far as I can see the last few pages are mostly dealing with the practical problems being caused by the school closures, which to me are anecdotal evidence as to why they shouldn't be closed)
You've made false assertions about what I've said. I said quickly googled to make the point that anyone could easily find support for what I'm saying n response to someone else saying that they'd never seen any such pieces as such pieces are actually plentiful and doubted that they existed (clearly their doubts were misplaced)

There is nothing "absurd" about what I said. Just to remind you what I said

1) preventing children going to school harms children. Do you disagree with this part. Do you think this is "absurd"?

2) That covid does not present a high risk to children and that there is no evidence the variants do either. I gave links to support this, you zoned in on the sentence which said that as it is so new, that they can't be certain yet whilst ignoring the actual article/paper which actually said.  Is it this that you think this is "absurd"?

3) that the harm done to children outweigh harms done to wider society by leaving schools open. Obviously this one is somewhat subjective, but given the very clear harms from not having schools open, and the complete lack of evidence that they create harm from being open, my view (and the view of the majority as far as I can tell) is that schools should open. If you think this part is "absurd", well it's subjective - so you are entitled to think that. But most reasonable people can engage in discussions on pros and cons. All you can do is label others as "absurd" and ignore evidence that doesn't suit your narrative or try to twist it to say it actually says something else.

Please come back if you can bring something else to the table. Otherwise we are just derailing this thread at this point so I'm not engaging any further unless you bring new material to the table.

Stateofyou wrote: »

Move on Responder XY. You're like a dog with a bone at this stage.

1. You're misrepresenting what you actually said. It's not true that was your claim and you know it. You originally claimed the damage the virus does and its variants is less than the damage done in keeping children out of education. When asked for proof you acknowledged there was none, and you came up with general links about lack of education in schools due to covid. Nothing from experts concluding what you claimed.

2. Are we STILL AT THIS STAGE IN JAN 2021 where people want to argue that the effects on children are minimal? It's not the point. When community spread is high, it will be in the schools and continue to spread even more, and put pressure on our health care system. THAT IS THE POINT. Honestly I'm out of f-g patience. here.

3. Subjective, your opinion. So stop posting unrelated links as if they back up your original claim when they don't. It's absurd to post links and try and make the point they back up your original claim when they don't. That's not reasonable discussion.

Just let it go. Unless you want to actually bring new material to the table that supports your original claim: "Damage the variants do is less than the damage done to children kept out of education."

Evidence is on the table - you are just chosing to ignore it. Goodbye.

Responder XY wrote: »

impact on spread is not clear, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about harm done by the virus to Chlidren. All eveidnece sujests that varients don't do any more harm to children is what I said.

Nothing in what you quoted that goes against that.

Yeah, like children are the only people in school. They teach themselves and do the maintenance and admin too.

Qwertyminger wrote: »

Any SEN schools get any info from the Dept about the return yet?

Nothing released yet. INTO made a blunder by announcing it was to be released yesterday. Dept statement said it would be available in the coming days/soon.

Responder XY wrote: »

impact on spread is not clear, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about harm done by the virus to Chlidren. All eveidnece sujests that varients don't do any more harm to children is what I said.

Nothing in what you quoted that goes against that.

The new variants are more transmissable by children.


Lucky for us, children live alone, and both teach and parent themselves and have no dealings with adults at all