Is It OK for Staff to Arrive and Leave When Students Do?

Should we hold people to their official work hours or is it okay for people to leave when students leave?

I saw a pretty interesting discussion of this today and I think there were there's several good points that are worth mentioning because sometimes we have to be a little bit flexible, right?

People have doctor's appointments, people have child care arrangements that either make them a little bit late for their official staff start time but still on time for students or they might have to leave a little bit early to pick up their kids even if they're leaving a after students are gone.

And I think it is entirely reasonable to be reasonable and flexible about that kind of thing.

As long as the job is getting done, as long as students are covered, I think we can be a little bit flexible about this.

But this discussion pertained to a group of staff members who were just leaving when students left and did not appear to have any regard for coming on time or, you know, beating students to the classroom in the morning.

And it was a pretty clear expectation.

And there was a thought that maybe this is kind of a generational thing, that maybe people who are entering the workforce now have a more casual attitude toward time on campus.

And I think post pandemic, it is reasonable for us to be more flexible.

Like we should expect that people expect more flexibility as a working condition.

But I don't necessarily think that that means we need to not care about this.

So I'd love to know what you think.

I mean, don't we all appreciate flexibility, but kind of expect our colleagues to be there on time?

Like none of us want to be in the situation of like having to unlock our neighbor's classroom.

Like we've all probably had to do that.

And it's not fun, right?

It's not fun to have to kind of cover for a staff member who's just like inexplicably, frequently kind of late or leaving when the students leave.

And I think it also looks bad.

when we leave while the students are still leaving, right?

Occasionally you might have a doctor's appointment, you might have something that is taking you off campus, but it's not a good look to be trying to beat the students out the door.

And I think none of that impinges on our ability to be flexible and to help each other out and to be understanding when there's a doctor's appointment.

But this is a profession, right?

We should be professionals who are mostly on time and staying the amount of time we're supposed to be.

But there was a good point that I wanted to run by you that we don't really necessarily need to enforce the, you have to stay until a certain time after school requirement.

I actually kind of agree with that.

Having said everything I just said, I kind of agree that we don't really need to be sticklers about exactly how late people stay after school.

You know, don't beat the students out the door, but like if the contract says you're supposed to be there till 345, like that really honestly does not matter to me because personally, I will tell you, I could not do anything.

Like my brain was just done after school.

I could not do any work at school after the end of the school day as a teacher.

I just had to go home and it was different as a principal because you're not using your brain in the same way all day as a principal.

Um, But I just feel like we need to have some flexibility for people and understanding that some people are getting there at 6 a.m., some people are morning people, and there is absolutely no reason to make them stay half an hour after.

But at the same time, we've got to be there on time.

Let me know what you think.