Schools announce closures for tomorrow (From Bucks Free Press)

I read with interest the debate about closures on Friday - now I am just shocked that schools were closed today and some may close tomorrow. Most roads in the county are clear and public transport in the area is running normally. Parents will be expected to be at work, so why not teachers?

It isn't necessarily about routes to and from school - although that was an issue on Friday. Some school sites need a lot of work to make them accessible to students and if you look at the school closures for today you will see that staff were at schools clearing the sites ready for school tomorrow. Headteachers don't take the decision to close lightly contrary to some of the ill-informed comments that were being made on Friday. We had calls from parents asking why we made a late decision (because we were trying to get the site safe to open and failed) or why we made the decision earlier (because we knew the site was unsafe and were trying to give as much notice to parents!! Whatever decision is made - it is wrong.

The 2 that have closed are not actually schools....
And I agree with Bookworm123. It was also the teachers that were the last to leave the schools as they had to wait for the last child to go, some stayed on to do paperwork if they felt it was safe, others had to leave to pick up their own children from other schools.

Roads are all clear but the footpaths across the High Wycombe have been neglected completely.Seems like pedestrians nowadays do not matter. Maybe they don't pay the road tax yet.

Peregrine93 wrote:
I read with interest the debate about closures on Friday - now I am just shocked that schools were closed today and some may close tomorrow. Most roads in the county are clear and public transport in the area is running normally. Parents will be expected to be at work, so why not teachers?

couldnt agree more why are they getting paid to sit at home. i feel so sorry for parents having to stay at home and some not even getting paid. They are a joke which give our country a bad name, not a good example to the kids

Also worth taking into consideration is that many teachers do not live particularly near the school where they teach so their journey to school may not be as easy.

Bookworm123 wrote:
It isn't necessarily about routes to and from school - although that was an issue on Friday. Some school sites need a lot of work to make them accessible to students and if you look at the school closures for today you will see that staff were at schools clearing the sites ready for school tomorrow. Headteachers don't take the decision to close lightly contrary to some of the ill-informed comments that were being made on Friday. We had calls from parents asking why we made a late decision (because we were trying to get the site safe to open and failed) or why we made the decision earlier (because we knew the site was unsafe and were trying to give as much notice to parents!! Whatever decision is made - it is wrong.

they've had all weekend to move a few inches of snow of a few paths, its a complete joke and the teachers are plain lazy, all there good for is sitting on their arses in a warm classroom, thats why they became teachers. get a load of shovels and earn ya money, i bet theres plenty of people who want a teaching job who cant get one, and these teachers are the best we can get lol no wonder kids are leaving school not knowing the basics and important relevant things to getting on in the real world.

mumbles26 wrote:
Also worth taking into consideration is that many teachers do not live particularly near the school where they teach so their journey to school may not be as easy.

which is why they should live near the school that they teach at, in the local community. That should be in the contract, just as a footballer needs to move everytime they go to a new club so should teachers, this would mean they can do after school clubs etc instead of jumping in the car at 3:30 to get home. Its about time we got more out of our teachers to sort out the kids who leave school with little knowledge and relevent skills. If not im sure theres plenty of would be teachers out there with a can do attitude who cant find work

RenegadeJ007 wrote:
Roads are all clear but the footpaths across the High Wycombe have been neglected completely.Seems like pedestrians nowadays do not matter. Maybe they don't pay the road tax yet.

where do u think the moneys going to come from? The countrys broke and u want to start clearing all the paths, get a life we havnt even got enough money for our own A&E

I've cleared the pavement outside my gaff... I wonder how many others moaning about the council have done theirs?

buftonp13 wrote:

mumbles26 wrote:
Also worth taking into consideration is that many teachers do not live particularly near the school where they teach so their journey to school may not be as easy.

which is why they should live near the school that they teach at, in the local community. That should be in the contract, just as a footballer needs to move everytime they go to a new club so should teachers, this would mean they can do after school clubs etc instead of jumping in the car at 3:30 to get home. Its about time we got more out of our teachers to sort out the kids who leave school with little knowledge and relevent skills. If not im sure theres plenty of would be teachers out there with a can do attitude who cant find work

You seem to be if the misconception that its teachers that close the school - they have no say whatsoever about whether the school is open or not. I work in a school, I am not a teacher, and I wanted to go in yesterday but was not allowed - however I took work home with me on Friday and did this yesterday.

We were open on Friday and had so many complaints from parents and many of them came down to pull their children out of school - we are damned if we do damned if we don't.

All we hear is that many teachers do not live near the school, but many private sector workers don't live near there work place and they don't get paid if they don't get into work. Yesterday friends went to work and the first thing they did was clear the car park and footpaths.
All the teachers are teaching the children is that when they leave school if the can't be bothered they don't have to go to work.

buftonp13 wrote:

Bookworm123 wrote:
It isn't necessarily about routes to and from school - although that was an issue on Friday. Some school sites need a lot of work to make them accessible to students and if you look at the school closures for today you will see that staff were at schools clearing the sites ready for school tomorrow. Headteachers don't take the decision to close lightly contrary to some of the ill-informed comments that were being made on Friday. We had calls from parents asking why we made a late decision (because we were trying to get the site safe to open and failed) or why we made the decision earlier (because we knew the site was unsafe and were trying to give as much notice to parents!! Whatever decision is made - it is wrong.

they've had all weekend to move a few inches of snow of a few paths, its a complete joke and the teachers are plain lazy, all there good for is sitting on their arses in a warm classroom, thats why they became teachers. get a load of shovels and earn ya money, i bet theres plenty of people who want a teaching job who cant get one, and these teachers are the best we can get lol no wonder kids are leaving school not knowing the basics and important relevant things to getting on in the real world.

LOL
I wonder what on earth a teacher did to make you so cross.
That isn't a chip on your shoulder - it is a massive redwood tree :))

buftonp13 wrote:

Bookworm123 wrote:
It isn't necessarily about routes to and from school - although that was an issue on Friday. Some school sites need a lot of work to make them accessible to students and if you look at the school closures for today you will see that staff were at schools clearing the sites ready for school tomorrow. Headteachers don't take the decision to close lightly contrary to some of the ill-informed comments that were being made on Friday. We had calls from parents asking why we made a late decision (because we were trying to get the site safe to open and failed) or why we made the decision earlier (because we knew the site was unsafe and were trying to give as much notice to parents!! Whatever decision is made - it is wrong.

they've had all weekend to move a few inches of snow of a few paths, its a complete joke and the teachers are plain lazy, all there good for is sitting on their arses in a warm classroom, thats why they became teachers. get a load of shovels and earn ya money, i bet theres plenty of people who want a teaching job who cant get one, and these teachers are the best we can get lol no wonder kids are leaving school not knowing the basics and important relevant things to getting on in the real world.

A few inches of snow - we have 4 inches of snow on top of compacted ice, with a school on a hill and transport not able to access the site. Staff worked on Sunday - through the continuous snow all day and then again on Monday to clear it to enable pupils to get to school. If you think it is easy - take a look at the closures next time and go and offer to help the staff to clear the sites and see how easy it is. No one sat anywhere last weekend. Ill-informed comment once more from someone who has no knowledge but is the first to offer a comment!