How do I get rid of the smell of urine from a carpet?

CupOfChai

Am I the only one wondering - why is the teacher scrubbing the classroom carpet? Surely they aren't supposed to have to do that, especially where bodily fluid spills are involved, big cleaning jobs like that aren't usually the teacher's responsibility to do are they?

I agree with Meritaten, tell management your classroom smells of urine and you need it to be sorted out. Also why would you want to buy anything out of your own pocket that is for work's use, unless normal procedure is to claim back on expenses?

Burp_2

meritaten wrote: »

er - my mum was a school cleaner for years - and over the summer holidays gave the school a thorough clean - including carpeted areas. this was a good few years ago. you should not have to work in a classroom which smells of pee. you have a few weeks to sort this. its NOT your responsibilty for one............you need to tell the headmaster and the caretaker that the classroom smells. and then tell them you expect it to be cleaned by 'such a date' when you will be getting ready for the new intake.

Unfortunately our cleaners are employed by the LEA and are not paid to come in during the holidays! They are due in the day the children start and all they generally do is hoover, wipe tables and clean the toilets. It's common place for the teachers at my school to clean their classroom from top to bottom during the holidays!

CupOfChai wrote: »

Am I the only one wondering - why is the teacher scrubbing the classroom carpet? Surely they aren't supposed to have to do that, especially where bodily fluid spills are involved, big cleaning jobs like that aren't usually the teacher's responsibility to do are they?

I agree with Meritaten, tell management your classroom smells of urine and you need it to be sorted out. Also why would you want to buy anything out of your own pocket that is for work's use, unless normal procedure is to claim back on expenses?

lol I have a classroom budget of about £50 and that generally covers extras needed during the year like glue sticks and card for the children ... it's common place for teachers to buy resources (especially in poorly funded schools like ours)

I spend a lot of money each month trying to resource my classroom with resources and activities ... it's either that or the children go without and I want to give my class the best experiences possible... altho a lot can be done with imagination and carboard boxes lol

Burp x

invisiblecabbage

Isn't it strange how non-teachers see us as 9-3 workers, yet really we do so much more. Unlike big corporate employers (although you would think a county council was a big employer) we teachers in small schools end up doing most things ourselves or they just wouldn't get done. For instance, whenever the powers that be decide to relocate a classroom do we get time or removal men? no ...in between teaching, planning, marking, parents, meetings we have to ensure that classroom A moves to classroom B and is ready for use yesterday. Our school has been relocated 3 times in 3 years and with a staff of less than 10 and no caretaker. I often wish for a house gnome that could sort my room out overnight after a move. ...and we are expected to teach the next day. So far this holiday I have spent 3 days on just resettling my classroom. That's before I add up the hours spent on schemes of work and resources. heaven knows what I'd do if we did'nt get the holidays to do this work in.

And before anyone says we need to make a stand ..... what happens when there is talk of strikes by teachers ...huge outcry about us wingeing when we should be so grateful for all the weeks holidays we get:mad:

bluetimone97

Surgical spirit(bought cheaply from any chemist) diluted down kills the smell of urine and a few other things similar, 1 part surgical spirit to 10 parts water give or take.
I found this out when our pup had an accident with lots of leftover stew on a carpet, took me weeks of trying other things first, also was great when our youngest used to wet the bed.

Bronnie

Neutradol powder, from the £shop, sprinkle on thickly, work in with a brush, leave on overnight and hoover up. Job done. Trust me!

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/neutradol-carpet-deodorizer_1_26990.html

maman

:T:T:T to lovely people offering practical advice and sympathy with OP at having to clean own classroom.

I've read so many teacher bashing threads on here (don't get me on term time holidays) that reading this has been great.

My advice would be to try a few of the excellent ideas and then tell the head in September so she can take more permanent action.

baby_fuzz

invisiblecabbage wrote: »

And before anyone says we need to make a stand ..... what happens when there is talk of strikes by teachers ...huge outcry about us wingeing when we should be so grateful for all the weeks holidays we get:mad:

A lot of my friends are teachers, and they are well paid for their jobs, get paid over time, excellent benefits etc. and they know/appreciate it. Per week worked, teachers genuinely earn a very good salary. 12-13 weeks/year - that's 60 days in comparison to the 20 that is average for other professions.

Without trying to sound like a troll, SOME teachers have a comparably easy ride versus people who work on typical job-done employment in the private sector. and yes, a lot of teachers whinge a lot over nothing. Before there is some huge backlash on the forum - I'd like to point out that most of my teacher-friends agree.

Having said that, I would not swap my job for having to deal with the little terrors that are now filtering into the secondary school system.:eek::o

CupOfChai

invisiblecabbage wrote: »

Isn't it strange how non-teachers see us as 9-3 workers, yet really we do so much more. Unlike big corporate employers (although you would think a county council was a big employer) we teachers in small schools end up doing most things ourselves or they just wouldn't get done. For instance, whenever the powers that be decide to relocate a classroom do we get time or removal men? no ...in between teaching, planning, marking, parents, meetings we have to ensure that classroom A moves to classroom B and is ready for use yesterday. Our school has been relocated 3 times in 3 years and with a staff of less than 10 and no caretaker. I often wish for a house gnome that could sort my room out overnight after a move. ...and we are expected to teach the next day. So far this holiday I have spent 3 days on just resettling my classroom. That's before I add up the hours spent on schemes of work and resources. heaven knows what I'd do if we did'nt get the holidays to do this work in.

And before anyone says we need to make a stand ..... what happens when there is talk of strikes by teachers ...huge outcry about us wingeing when we should be so grateful for all the weeks holidays we get:mad:

I think I might be one of the people you were thinking of when you referred to "some seeing teachers as 9-3 workers". That is absolutely not the case, I know teachers and I know how hard they work and that it is in no way a case of starting at 9am, finishing at 3pm plus getting masses of holiday. I even looked into becoming a teacher myself (thought better of it in the end! Too many little scrotes for my liking!).

That doesn't mean I think it's right that they should have to do all these extra non-teaching jobs, or pay out of their own money for materials and equipment because they don't get enough in funding. In my view, the teachers are trained and equipped to teach and that is the thing they do best, so they should be enabled to do it. Not cleaning, or moving furniture, or redecorating, or cooking the school dinners, teaching. But as long as they do then nothing will change. I do take your point about many people seeing it as an easy ride and seeing you as whingers when you try to make a point about the state things are in.

Butterfly_Brain

Because it is a village lower school that DH works at - the funding is not that great so he takes a lot of his own tools in to do jobs that need to be done. The teaching staff are all very friendly and work blooming hard. It doesn't matter if you are a teacher, site agent, cleaner, cook or secretary everyone does what they can for the good of the school and husbands, wives and partners all get involved as well.
People seem to think that because a school is closed for holidays the teachers are not working :mad:
NEWSFLASH !!!!!!
They go in every day for the first two weeks then they have their holiday and then they are in every day for the last week or so before school opens - Teaching plans have to be done and term time most of them are still there at 6pm.
DH has even had to kick some of them out of the building at 7.30pm so that he can close up :rotfl:

baby_fuzz

CupOfChai wrote: »

That doesn't mean I think it's right that they should have to do all these extra non-teaching jobs, or pay out of their own money for materials and equipment because they don't get enough in funding. In my view, the teachers are trained and equipped to teach and that is the thing they do best, so they should be enabled to do it. Not cleaning, or moving furniture, or redecorating, or cooking the school dinners, teaching. But as long as they do then nothing will change.

:T:T:T
so true.