Teacher 'donated' Dds money!

[WoWoWorrier]

My daughter has a knack for 'finding pennies'. She is 8. She collects the 5ps/10ps she finds for sweeties and the 1ps and 2ps go in a piggy bank until it's full. She find a them outside on the floor.

On the way to school yesterday she was saying that she wanted a mini figit spinner from the machine outside our local newsagents.
She had been super good this week and I was already planning on giving her £2 as a reward but she said 'I might find a pound!' So to humour her 'abilities' I dropped a pound a few minutes later and she spotted it.

She was super excited.

When I picked her up from school she was quiet and when we got near the ship I asked her if she wanted to get her toy she told me she had been telling her friend she had found a pound on the way to school and the teacher said it wasn't hers to spend and told her to put it in the classroom charity collection box!!

Aibu to demand it back and be quite pissed off?

[Ttbb]

This is a good opportunity to teach her to be more assertive. Tell her that she should stand up to the teacher.

[Shootfirstaskquestionslater]

That was bang out of order of the teacher it was nothing to do with her. I would be asking for it back.

[lougle]

The teacher was right. Your DD didn't know you had dropped it, so she should have given it to the school office . That could have been somebody's lunch money. You aren't encouraging a good attitude in your DD to money finding. It's 2p and 5p now, but what about when it is £5, £10 or even £100? It isn't finders Keepers, losers weepers!

[MessyHairDontCare88]

I’d ask for it back! It’s none of the teachers business!

[Bunnyhipsdontliegrl]

I think many people will say you're wrong but I wouldn't like it. The teacher can't take money from your child, no matter how she got it. Also seriously, my daughter is so excited when she finds one p on the floor and put it in her piggy bank. What was she suppose to do? Stay there for 48 hours with a signs saying "I have found one pound, if it's yours let me know"?

[JKR123]

I would be really annoyed and I would say something to the teacher.

[Doglikeafox]

I think the teacher was probably in the right to be honest. She had no idea you had dropped it for DD, so to her knowledge it wasn’t your DDs to keep. Also I know all schools are different but some are quite strict about coins and notes being taken into school.

[WoWoWorrier]

Even if I hadn't have dropped it how would I find out who owns a pound in the middle of a bike bath??

Why should she hand it into the school office? It was no where near school.

[WoWoWorrier]

Sorry *bike path.

[soimpressed]

Are the children allowed to bring money into school? Ours aren't.

[lumleyy]

demand it back!

[helpmefast]

Tbf the teacher was sort of right, she wasn't to know you were the one to drop it. I'd just let it go and not let her to go to school with any more money

[WoWoWorrier]

Just for clarity the pound WAS NOT 'found on school property.

I dropped it on the bike path on the way to school.

Even if it was a real 'find how on earth would we trace the owner?

[ItsNachoCheese]

The teacher had no right to take your dds money id be asking for it back

[WoWoWorrier]

And to be fair she didn't have the money out. It was in her bag. If she had been playing with it I would have supported the school confiscating it till home time.

But to ask where it was and demand she goes get it is wrong

[ISpeakJive]

If your DD had found this random coin in the school, then the teacher would be correct in encouraging her to put it in the collection box.
However, if said coin was found outside of the school (which is the case) then it has nothing to do with the teacher.

[RatherBeRiding]

Well if it "wasn't hers" - whose was it? (Hypothetically I mean). Obviously if someone had genuinely dropped a pound coin it is still theirs, but unless the person dropping it knew they had dropped it, and could prove it was theirs (pretty nigh impossible), then realistically it "belongs" to the person picking it up.

Teacher was wrong. Especially as, if we are going to get into ownership territory, the coin was yours in the first place.

[ISpeakJive]

But I would’ve taken the coin from her and told her that you will look after it until after school.

[Witchend]

When I was at school people used to come in and give in the 1p pieces that they'd found down by the shops. The head used to leave them on the lectern in the hall, after telling everyone in assembly that 1p had been found, which was easily got at by anyone.
Despite being in a deprived area those pennies would be there until the end of term usually.

Don't you think it would have been nicer for her to have been given £2 for being good, than to find £1. Money on the floor goes into a collection box unless it's a note then we hand it in in our house.

I think the teacher was quite right.

[cordeliavorkosigan]

I'd speak to the teacher and explain that it was a game, you dropped it, could you have it back, and that DD will not be bringing money in the future.

[FatBastardHead]

The teacher is right that it's not okay and not legal to just keep whatever you find. A few odd pennies here and there is fine but it can be hard to instill boundaries of what's okay to pick up and keep (a few pennies) and what's not (a few quid)

However, I think she was massively unreasonable to take the money from you DD. It was your DD's money when she came to the school no matter how she came by it.

I think the teacher should have talked to your DD about ownership and/or had a conversation about what's best to do with money you find (i.e. it's nice to donate it to charity). However, if she'd had this conversation with your DD she should have given your DD the autonomy to choose which charity to donate her money to rather than just lobbing it into school funds.

[user1493413286]

I’d have a word with the teacher; if I found £20 in the street why should I then be expected to put it in a charity box?
Also people’s logic about what if a child had dropped it makes no sense as generally you can’t get money back out of a charity collection box so the child wouldn’t be able to have it anyway plus as it wasn’t dropped in school it’s nothing to do with school.

[LoverOfCake]

The teacher was right. This isn't about whether it could have been someone's lunch money or the like, it's about the fact that if you find money on the path it's not yours to keep. In many situations you would probably keep it on account of the fact it might be 50p or whatever and wouldn't be going seeking the owner for it, but this is a small child in a class full of impressionable other small children who shouldn't be given the lesson that if you find something you keep it. Small children aren't going to distinguish between ok to keep 10p but not ok if it's a £10 note. Hence why the teacher told her to put it in the charity box. She wasn't suggesting that dd should find the rightful owner, just that it wasn't hers to keep, which it wasn't.

I would let it go. And I certainly wouldn't be telling your DD to look for coins on the floor until she finds enough of other people's lost money to afford what she wants to buy. It's a terrible message to be giving her.

[DJBaggySmalls]

No, the teacher has no right to put found money in a charity collection box, if she took it she should have handed it in to the office as lost property. Then if it wasnt claimed after a month your DD should have got it back.