Police arrest parents who slate school on class WhatsApp

[noblegiraffe]

A primary school sought advice from the police after '“a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts” that had become upsetting for staff, parents and governors.' and the police response was to send 6 officers to their house to arrest the couple making the posts and put them in a cell all day.

Although the couple sound like an absolute pain in the arse who should pack it in, 6 police officers seems like a teensy bit of overkill, particularly with the amount of crime currently going uninvestigated. But with schools faced with spiralling numbers of vexatious parental complaints, something needs to happen. I think some unions are starting to offer legal advice and template solicitor letters for this situation.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d8c8566b-99b1-45c6-814b-008042d74a3a?shareToken=6deab807d148cf7695ed4d9d3664c51e

I can’t decide of you’re being purposefully obtuse or genuinely don’t understand the impact of the written word
The written word has always had the power to arouse feelings and prejudices or instigates actions and behaviours that are inappropriate, e.g. violent. Think about the Tate Brothers, they use the written word medium and social media to propagate a slew of misogynistic views.
Charlie Hebdo after all was just the written word

If written words breach acceptable norms and standards or could be seen as instigating violence or posing a threat, then obviously the police have to get involved

I think you do understand the impact of the written word. I think you’re being purposefully obtuse. All the faux indignation

One is entitled to express an opinion however if that opinion is used to potentially instigate violence harm or promote unlawful actions than expected to be repercussions and that would also include police visiting your home.

I found this bit:

”Cowley Hill Primary School said: “We sought advice from the police following a high volume of direct correspondence and public social media posts from two parents, as this was becoming upsetting for staff, parents and governors. We’re always happy for parents to raise concerns, but we do ask that they do this in a suitable way, and in line with school’s published complaints procedure.”

Was there an actual statement? Had a quick google but couldn’t find a reference to one.

If…

Actually as an experienced governor, I don’t recognise either of those counter points (which are responses to points I didn’t actually make😀).

1. I have no evidence to suggest that either parent was aggressive or ‘similar’ to a point that required police involvement.
2. I’m not suggesting the school is in a position to ‘defend themselves publicly’ after the fact - indeed, the reputational risk is something the leadership should have considered before involving the police.

I know teachers will rush to the defence of their colleagues but all of us involved in education know that there are some poor practitioners.

i cannot possibly know the reality in this case - but the fact the school recklessly imho reported this couple to the police does indeed suggest poor leadership.

I see a quote from the school but not anything indicating there is a longer statement the Times hasn’t published. Why do you think this is case?

A number of posters are conflating being a PITA with criminality.

Yes, this couple sound annoying, but that doesn’t mean what they have done should be a police matter (unless threats have been made or abuse sent).

Causing ‘upset’ should not be sufficient for six police officers to turn up at someone’s door in a free society.

Good.

I hope they reconsider their cunty life choices.

The way we (school staff) are spoken to is utterly disgusting. We should be holding parents accountable like this more often.

You think what happened at Charlie Hebdo was instigated by those who drew a cartoon?

Wow

You sound nice.

Where have you got that from?

I think the school completely over reacted and shouldn't have called the police for something that isn't a police matter
but if anything I'm criticising the police more for not making sufficient enquiries and obtaining evidence before arrest, and acting disproportionately - sending so many officers, arresting them and bringing them to custody, taking 5 weeks to determine NFA, etc. not to mention apparently not telling them exactly what messages were so inappropriate and why, which in itself is unlawful.

I worked in police complaints for years, unfortunately police acting disproportionately and outside their remit is not an uncommon occurrence. Did you miss all the incidents during covid where people were fined or arrested for things that were not at all illegal? All the news about inappropriate stop and searches, including strip searches of underage children without an AA?

😂😂😂

Is this real? It’s very funny

…and if they haven’t done anything illegal but were still arrested by six officers before being let go with no charges being brought due to insufficient evidence (of crimes that by nature would have tangible evidence), you’d still think it was good?

Mr & Mrs Cuntyface who are going to lunge at you across the desk because you’ve just excluded their knife carrying thuggish son are not going to give two shiny sh*ts that these two were arrested.

Those extremist cartoonists with their malign scribblings…

Wasn’t it the other way around?

They were banned from coming into the school and told they could only communicate by email …and then there were a large number of emails.

The whole thing sounds toxic.

Tbh I wouldnt be happy in that type of environment- where things can escalate to that point and where police are called in to deal with it.

I wouldn't be apportioning blame or taking sides- as no side comes out smelling good and there is residue left... Either detractors or those cheering the school on would be consuming attention and time and I don't care for that.

I'd leave the school and move to somewhere more neutral.

I said in my OP that the police rocking up like they did was overkill.

I'm not sure that the school asking the police for advice on how to deal with this couple who they clearly consider to be harassing their staff was wrong, although they would definitely have been better off seeking advice from their union who are being increasingly contacted by headteachers asking how to deal with vexatious complaints.

Some people seem to think that the school somehow made half a dozen police go around to this couple's house and I don't think that's how it works. The police are usually supremely uninterested in things that go on in schools.

I have personally seen three instances where the parents of children with SEND were treated like this by a school for trying to enforce their child’s legal rights to appropriate support to be able to attend school safely. Due to the schools’ lack of action, of course the parents had to contact them repeatedly. In all three cases the school claimed the support the children were receiving was appropriate and claimed the parents’ communications were unreasonably frequent, when it was the school’s own behaviour that necessitates this because they were not doing their job or complying with the law and regulations or resolving the issues raised so of course the parents had to keep contacting them about this. In all three cases the parents followed the correct complaints procedure but the Trustees/ Governors did not investigate properly and simply backed the Head Teachers’ opinion so did not follow their own complaints procedure correctly. In all three cases the schools tried to demonise the parents and pretend they were unreasonable. Unsurprisingly, in all three cases the children in question were later granted EHCPs requiring the school to do exactly what the parents and the childrens’ doctors and specialists had told them they needed to do in the first place so the parents were entirely vindicated and it was clear the school was in the wrong all along. And in all three cases, unsurprisingly given the defensive and self-righteous comments from teachers on this thread, the parents never received an apology.

If having your professional failings and law breaking highlighted is “upsetting” then the correct response is to start doing your job properly and start complying with the law. It isn’t “vexatious” for parents to repeatedly contact a school that is failing a child and breaching its legal duties to a child, and if schools would prefer that parents weren’t forced to do so repeatedly the solution is to resolve the issues raised the first time they are raised.

As I said earlier in the thread OFSTED needs replacing with a proper regulator that will come down like a ton of bricks on schools and Local Authorities for illegal behaviour with sufficient levels of fines to remove the financial incentive for such behaviour, and personal consequences for the staff involved including removing professional qualifications.

There are many good teachers. In fact the class teachers in the three cases I referred to were very good. It was the Head Teachers and SENDCO that were appalling and behaving in this manner and attempting to demonise the parents to deflect attention away from their own appalling behaviour, and sadly Trustees and Governors are frequently people who do not understand their legal responsibilities, or are not properly independent and will just do whatever the Head tells them to do (often because anybody with any integrity has resigned, as they are legally required to do when the school breaks the law and won’t rectify it, so what are left on these Boards are immoral or incompetent dregs).

Many schools and teachers are fantastic but it’s extremely naive to think this kind of behaviour from schools does not occur.

The case was dropped so yes it looks like the police reaction was overkill.

Well of course the journalists at Charlie Hebdo had only published words (and pictures). That is why the actions of the murderers were totally unjustified. Or do you think the journalists deserved to be murdered because what they had written upset and offended someone?

They'd already complained to the school about the recruitment process and were bitching about them on social media before they were banned from the premises. It's why they were banned.

Schools generally don't say that people can only communicate with them via email unless they've already been causing problems via other communication routes. It's a method taken to protect staff.

Their child has various neurological conditions. It is often extremely damaging for such children to have to change schools. In some areas there are no available school places to move to. But fundamentally, why should the child have to? The school staff need to do their job or leave. They are there to serve the children, not the other way around. Moving the child simply encourages such behaviour because the school got exactly what they wanted. It’s no secret that many schools try to bully SEND children and their families into off-rolling or changing schools in a cynical attempt to save money on provision.

Even in the Times article they go on a lot about the headteacher recruitment process. They seem to be obsessed with it, to the point where when they were banned from the school premises, they were still emailing the school about it.

People claiming this is about SEN need to explain why this couple were so invested in the headteacher recruitment issue.

Reporting someone to the police because you didn’t like them calling you a control freak in a private conversation you later heard about would seem to be the very definition of being a control freak.

😂😂 excellent point

Please point to the evidence of abuse, threats or intimidation in this case?

The police stated there was no case to answer and no evidence of any of the above has been provided.