Am I being unreasonable

[Mum3785]

My son is 12years old and is in high school, the other day his teacher phoned me really angry saying my son had broken a pupils phone, they were taking pictures of him at school and when he tried to grab the phone to delete them the phone dropped on the floor and the screen cracked, but the school are saying the child's parents are really angry as the phone is broke, I asked the school where the phone was I wanted to see if the phone did turn on as my son said it was just cracked, but the teacher told me the child had taken the phone home and I was not allowed to see, so I asked if they made her delete the pictures of my son as I don't like the thought of his pictures being out there, as kids could post them and make fun ect, to which the school replied no it's there personal property, I feel really angry with the school as the child should not have had a phone out anyway let alone taking pictures of the pupils also I feel they should of confiscated the phone to make sure the pictures were deleted or at least told them to delete, my son has been punished with isolation an the other child has had no punishment the school are only angry with my son for the damage to the phone, I feel they should of both been in isolation. Please tell me your views and what you would do I'm this situation.

My views are that the other child should not have been taking photos of another pupil at school. When that other pupil objected and tried to grab the phone to prevent any more being taken, the phone ended up on the floor.

It will be one word against another as to who actually dropped it, but your DS didn't deliberately smash it, did he?

It was an accident, which would never have happened at all if the other child had not been taking photos of your ds without his consent.

So I say, tell them to stuff it.

Tell the school to put you in touch with the parents and you'll take it from there

Surely the phone should have been confiscated and that pupil's dps called? Our school policy is the dps have to collect such a phone!
Ignore op. Chancers. How do you know it wasn't cracked already?

@blacksax well said.

@blacksax

My views are that the other child should not have been taking photos of another pupil at school. When that other pupil objected and tried to grab the phone to prevent any more being taken, the phone ended up on the floor.

It will be one word against another as to who actually dropped it, but your DS didn't deliberately smash it, did he?

It was an accident, which would never have happened at all if the other child had not been taking photos of your ds without his consent.

So I say, tell them to stuff it.

This

Thqnkyou for your reply that is exactly what I said to the teacher that it was preventable as it would never have happened if the pupil didn't take pictures of him, I even said I would of done exactly the same tried to grab the phone to delete them, the school wouldn't like it if my son took a picture of a teacher they would soon grab the phone an get them to delete so I don't see why they think my son has to put up with it.

Thanks for reply. I did tell them to tell the parents I am angry to as there child shouldn't have been taking pictures of my child in school, to which the teacher replied I should be lucky the parents aren't ringing the police for the damage to the phone.

Thanks for reply, I never even thought the phone could of already been damaged, I did tell the school to tell me there policy on phones in the school and what action should be taken them, to which she replied inwas trying to put words in her mouth to say inwas right, but as genuinely wanted to no what what there policy was as I didn't feel it was being followed correctly as I would of thought those pictures leaving the premises of my son on th childs phone wa sa safeguarding issue as my son has no control on where this pictures could go or be used.

Surely the phone should be insured if a dc is parading one around school?

I’d have pissed myself laughing and said “you’re angry the phone is broken? I’m angry that photos were taken of my child without their consent and then they refused to delete them. Of course my child tried to snatch the phone. Don’t bother me with this shite again.”

I no it's a complete joke how they can justify the pictures and allow the child to go home with them, but think only my son is in the wrong now because of what's happened to the phone.

Firstly I'd ask the school for a copy of their mobile phone policy (should be on their website, but it case it's not) this should be your starting point.

Next, did this happen on school property (I'm assuming so if your son has received a sanction for this)? If so ask for their school photography policy.

Once you have these you'll have a starting point for what action you can/can't take.

Thays great thanks iv just checked there policy on mobiles it says if used in school then it gets confiscated till the end of the day, but they never even took it of her, also iv checked the photography policy it does not say anything about pupils taking pictures of pupils, but the consent form I signed when he started was only to say the school can take photos.

At our secondary school they always say that if you take things into school it is at your own risk, I think most schools say that. Therefore, if it gets broken it's your own responsibility, whether it's a pencil, mobile phone or something in between.

You need a copy of the mobile phone policy and proof the phone wasn't broken before your son tried to stop the other child taking pictures of him. Also, you need proof those photos have been deleted. Unfortunately, even if you get the phone to see if they are deleted you don't know if they have already been uploaded to the cloud or transferred to a computer, therefore you need to have the way the school has handled this checked out against school policy and have the policies examined by someone who knows about these things to see how good they are as you need to make sure this doesn't happen again, either to your child or someone elses. You may need to escalate it to the board of governors if teachers\head of year\head of school won't sort it.

Wtf?! The teacher said you were lucky that the other parents haven't called the police for the phone damage?!! What does she think the police would do??!! Why isn't the teacher being neutral? Perhaps you need to involve the headteacher?

What I'd like to know in your position is if any staff members actually saw the incident. If not then just one kids word against another. Its a privacy issue so perhaps the parents should be lucky that youre not involving the police.

Is there a chance this teacher is related in some way to the student whose phone was damaged? Seems odd they are ignoring their own policy. I would be getting back in touch with the school to complain about the teacher being so OTT about a phone.