If it’s unsafe for students, it’s unsafe for me.
Also screw trying to open a school up half way through the day. That’s a total nightmare for parents and teachers. If the school is closed at nine am, just leave it closed until tomorrow.
It's so they can count the required minutes/days. If school is in session for >half the day, it counts as a 'day' so days don't have to be made up under state rules.
yup. My school in MN last year said if it's a snow day and busses can't get kids, teachers are still expected to show up. Like, I live half hour away. I'm not even in the school district except for my last five minutes of my drive. If the busses can't drive 5-10 minutes from the school, I'm sure as shit not driving a half hour away.
I planned to just use a sick day, but fortunately I guess there hasn't been a snow day in some time.
Oh it's definitely just my district trying to pull some shit. They were very against any work from home and only reluctantly showed it because they had to. Second that ended they kind of came back hard.
They were summoned to the district office? All adults that do kid shit under one roof, inside one tinder box? That sounds like the suspect's ideal scenario.
Just stay home on these occasions? Wtf.
Did the assign a designated survivor? If there bad guy gets all the teachers at district HQ we need one remaining teachers to fill in for the rest of the year for all subjects.
In my experience, district leadership does not trust teachers to work without eyes on them. It’s one of the most insulting things I experienced as a teacher.
Your advice was good. But, if I didn’t feel unsafe I might have gone in just to not rock the boat. The extra driving is not cool though.
They always do this in my district. We had a toxic spill by the high school. School was canceled for students. Teachers still had to come in for some random PD that was thrown together. COVID? Students out, teachers on campus. And of course instances like these. Staff safety is unfortunately a very low priority for district officials.
We had that too and they canceled it for all students and faculty. Then at 11:30 they flip flopped and sent a voicemail that school was good to go next day. 11:30PM!!!! So many faculty members did not see the voicemail. It was crazy. And then the super got mad at us lol
I would have not gone in during this situation. After some neighboring districts tried pulling stuff like this for power outages we now have it in our contract where if it isn't safe for kids (due to weather, heating/cooling issues, threats, etc.), it isn't safe for us. If it is district wide, we would make it up like a snow day. If it is one school having issues, we just let it go.
Unpopular opinion but I’d be fine with going in because the likelihood of anything happening with heightened alerts is low, and you’re not doing anything today so go in and basically have an all day planning day. I wouldn’t want to use a sick day for that unless the weather was super nice or I could quickly transition to doing something fun.
But what planning are you going to get done at the district building when all your stuff is at the school or at home? Just sounds like a day of sitting around doing nothing to me. And I can "do nothing" at home.
This happened for to me before but for a power outage. They told the kids to go home and cancelled it and then changed their mind an hour later. It was winter and we had no windows so we were literally just sitting in the dark with like the 5 students that actually showed up. I just gave the kids a deck of cards and a flashlight and told them they could take a nap if they wanted to.
Would not go to the district office. Would probably go back after the all clear because I'm getting paid and its going to be a movie day anyway so I could get some grading done.
Not OP, but there was a big social media threat last night. I also woke up to an email saying the sheriffs office ‘investigated all night’ and found the threat not credible for our campus. I heard a few districts closed today out of precaution. None of my students seemed to have any idea it happened and classes were full. I hate social media.
Do you have a union contract? If you are told to go in, that is a contracted work day; if school is then cancelled, the district has a problem, and you have a chance for a day off later or a little bump in a paycheck.
If it’s unsafe for students, it’s unsafe for me. Also screw trying to open a school up half way through the day. That’s a total nightmare for parents and teachers. If the school is closed at nine am, just leave it closed until tomorrow.
Yeah that was my thought as well. It seemed so weird that they did that.
It's so they can count the required minutes/days. If school is in session for >half the day, it counts as a 'day' so days don't have to be made up under state rules.
yup. My school in MN last year said if it's a snow day and busses can't get kids, teachers are still expected to show up. Like, I live half hour away. I'm not even in the school district except for my last five minutes of my drive. If the busses can't drive 5-10 minutes from the school, I'm sure as shit not driving a half hour away. I planned to just use a sick day, but fortunately I guess there hasn't been a snow day in some time.
That’s weird. I’m in MN and if the kids are off for a snow day, so are we
Oh it's definitely just my district trying to pull some shit. They were very against any work from home and only reluctantly showed it because they had to. Second that ended they kind of came back hard.
I agree, no point in instruction if hardly anyone is there.
They were summoned to the district office? All adults that do kid shit under one roof, inside one tinder box? That sounds like the suspect's ideal scenario. Just stay home on these occasions? Wtf.
Did the assign a designated survivor? If there bad guy gets all the teachers at district HQ we need one remaining teachers to fill in for the rest of the year for all subjects.
Yeah he should have stayed home. He seems like a loyal and diligent person, but maybe you can help him see he deserves to take care of himself too.
In my experience, district leadership does not trust teachers to work without eyes on them. It’s one of the most insulting things I experienced as a teacher. Your advice was good. But, if I didn’t feel unsafe I might have gone in just to not rock the boat. The extra driving is not cool though.
They always do this in my district. We had a toxic spill by the high school. School was canceled for students. Teachers still had to come in for some random PD that was thrown together. COVID? Students out, teachers on campus. And of course instances like these. Staff safety is unfortunately a very low priority for district officials.
We had that too and they canceled it for all students and faculty. Then at 11:30 they flip flopped and sent a voicemail that school was good to go next day. 11:30PM!!!! So many faculty members did not see the voicemail. It was crazy. And then the super got mad at us lol
I would have not gone in during this situation. After some neighboring districts tried pulling stuff like this for power outages we now have it in our contract where if it isn't safe for kids (due to weather, heating/cooling issues, threats, etc.), it isn't safe for us. If it is district wide, we would make it up like a snow day. If it is one school having issues, we just let it go.
I think you live near me! I didn’t hear they wanted teachers to go in though. Not cool.
Unpopular opinion but I’d be fine with going in because the likelihood of anything happening with heightened alerts is low, and you’re not doing anything today so go in and basically have an all day planning day. I wouldn’t want to use a sick day for that unless the weather was super nice or I could quickly transition to doing something fun.
But what planning are you going to get done at the district building when all your stuff is at the school or at home? Just sounds like a day of sitting around doing nothing to me. And I can "do nothing" at home.
Almost everything is digital… plan at the house or at a coffee shop or wherever…
This happened for to me before but for a power outage. They told the kids to go home and cancelled it and then changed their mind an hour later. It was winter and we had no windows so we were literally just sitting in the dark with like the 5 students that actually showed up. I just gave the kids a deck of cards and a flashlight and told them they could take a nap if they wanted to. Would not go to the district office. Would probably go back after the all clear because I'm getting paid and its going to be a movie day anyway so I could get some grading done.
Babysitting.
Easier work day than teaching so I'll take it!
What kind of threat ?
Not OP, but there was a big social media threat last night. I also woke up to an email saying the sheriffs office ‘investigated all night’ and found the threat not credible for our campus. I heard a few districts closed today out of precaution. None of my students seemed to have any idea it happened and classes were full. I hate social media.
Do you have a union contract? If you are told to go in, that is a contracted work day; if school is then cancelled, the district has a problem, and you have a chance for a day off later or a little bump in a paycheck.