Anger over 'get to work' letter

A letter demanding Leicestershire teachers make "reasonable efforts" to report for work on snowy days has provoked anger from unions.

About 350 schools were closed in the county following snow on Monday.

Now the county council has said school staff who do not try hard enough to get in should have to take unpaid leave.

But the NUT said the safety of pupils was a priority and any suggestion their members were using the weather as an excuse to stay away was unfair.

In a number of the schools that were closed you had staff in even though there were no students present Peter Flack, NUT

Leicestershire's schools were badly affected by the weather, with more closed in the county than in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire put together.

Teachers in the area said they faced particularly difficult conditions and had to make decisions about children travelling in from isolated villages.

But the letter to school governors, while acknowledging the weather, said "failure to attend work without making reasonable efforts should result in employees being expected to take unpaid leave or make the time up".

It continued: "It is imperative that we take actions to minimise disruption in future".

Dedicated staff

David Parsons, the leader of Leicestershire County Council, said: "I think there are lessons to be learned.

"We did a ring round of schools today and I think that schools need to be better prepared.

"They should have stocks of salt to put on the playgrounds and so on. There are lessons to be learned and we will learn them together."

But Peter Flack from the National Union of Teachers rejected any suggestion teachers had not done their best.

"In a number of the schools that were closed you had staff in even though there were no students present.

"This is because teachers always see their responsibility to their job as being a priority, which is why they do so much work at home."