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

If a local Lib Dem councillor was known to be violent and aggressive towards the police to the point where six officers are sent to his house as opposed to two as there is safety in numbers, that would be a bigger story than this due to the absolute failure in vetting procedures?

So no, I don't know the parents or work in the police, but I would assume that couple in question did not pose a threat to the police.

People like this will always find something to complain about. Moving to a new school would transfer the complaining as well.

basically this,

I'm not sure that the political party he is part of has any influence on whether he may be violent or not.

Worrying that one or two posters think that ‘no further action’ means the parents didn’t do anything wrong. Er, no, anyone with a basic understanding of legalities understands that just because actions don’t meet a criminal threshold, doesn’t mean the perpetrator hasn’t done anything wrong, and in this case, the bombardment of messages making defamatory comments about individuals clearly shows the couple as nasty pieces of work.

I feel sorry for their kids now this is all exposed in public. Easy to dish it out, not so pleasant now…

We don't have a right to free speech in the UK, we have a right to freedom of expression under the human rights act (something the previous government & reform want us to abandon btw) and "may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society."

These may be “in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.”

I'm not saying it's not problematic, but compared to the assault on dissenting voices in the US across all media, universities, schools, institutions & in public there's no real comparison.

Yes, we are talking about two different things.

Other parents definitely do send profanity-littered emails to schools, start facebook campaign groups and post insulting messages on MN about named teachers. I didn't suggest that this set of parents did, the article says what they did. What I did suggest was that seeing the parents in the article being arrested might given the other parents pause for thought. Fingers crossed eh?

Why are they likely to be less violent towards than anyone else? Are people who work in local politics generally nicer?

There is a former Labour MP currently wearing a tag (and a tag monitoring his alcohol intake) after assaulting a man in the street.

How? I said something needs to be done to protect schools from harassment in my OP.

I also said that I didn't support sending around six police officers to their house.

But given that it has happened, perhaps it might give other obnoxious parents pause for thought. I'm not sure how any of that is contradictory.

I was thinking out loud about disgruntled, obnoxious parents, and those who might have a genuine issue with a school....

Instead of approaching the school itself, via the Head and/or the teacher or whoever is at issue, councils could have a mediation/liason service. This would be situated in the catchment of all schools in the area and it's where parents could go to air their concerns. A rep from the school would be a member. Set times/appointments for mediation/discussion and an impartial non teacher involved.

I know I'm just thinking off the top of my head, but something along those lines would keep disruptive arguments and confrontation off the school grounds.

It doesn't stop SM attacks, I know that but it might help. What do others think, and what have I neglected to factor in! I'm not a school parent anymore BTW so things might be so different now with all the rights and responsibilities people have.

Some morons have delusions about their own importance (and intelligence).

I'm very pleased the police turned up en masse, and looking at the locale I'm surprised they weren't in riot gear with an Apache attack helicopter circling overhead.

I've worked in schools that had to contend with nightmare parents such as this. They are utter idiots and a complete waste of the school's time.

Well yes, former Labour MP. Because he assaulted someone. I would also assume that a Lib Dem councillor who was violent and aggressive towards the police would become a former Lib Dem councillor.

Perhaps I am too optimistic there.

There was an incident when my DC were at primary school and a fb group was being used to round up complaints about a TA who wasn’t particularly warm and friendly.

One family went in and met with the head and he produced all of these comments that had been posted in the group.

The thing that shocked me was that most people in the group were outraged that someone had shared this stuff with the head and felt their ‘human rights ‘ had been violated (someone honestly posted that)

There was no empathy for the TA who was essentially the victim of online bullying.

I have never understood why some people are so ‘anti’ with schools but they seem to wear it as a badge of pride.

I find this very worrying.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have 2 conversations per week between parents and school regarding a child with disabilities and SEN.

Certainly I don’t think it warrants sending 6 police officers to bring the parents in in handcuffs.

It sends a strong message out to others, I am glad of it, why do people think they are more important than everyone else? You have to go some to get banned from school premise too.
Incidentally it was a Lib Dem councillor shouting Nazi’s at women and children attending a silent vigil for the women of Afghanistan… not all nice gentle middle class paragons some of them are just as likely to be hate filled arseholes as anyone else.

Ugh, I’ve just read the messages on the Times. That’s a WhatsApp group I would leave. Can you imagine reading that drip drip drip of unpleasantness every day?

While I completely agree with your overall point, I don't understand why they needed to collect the devices. The school will have had all the emails anyway which formed the evidence for the complaint of harassment? I do think 6 officers was overkill, especially in light of the fact that shoplifting is now at epidemic levels due to lack of police action.

But those parents were obviously complete PITAs and the school has every right to defend their processes. I bet the other parents are appalled by them.

I’m interested in the responses on this thread. My first instinct on seeing this story was to be horrified, and I still believe that the police response was completely OTT, especially in the context of a retreat from policing petty crime etc.

I do think, working in the public sector myself and frequently finding my own work disparaged either through direct communication or on social media that people need to toughen up a bit. People are allowed to criticise and be rude (but not harass or be abusive) and modern communications mean that criticism is publicly visible and accessible in a way it wouldn’t have been before social media and email. But we shouldn’t rely on the police to deal with these kinds of behavioural issues.

But I’m more sympathetic to the school having read through the thread and thought about it a bit more. What can a school do in a situation like this? Are there policies for vexatious complainers? Would a single point of contact be put in place? What is good practice in situations like this?

One does wonder if the relationship had broken down so badly why the parents didn’t change schools, but it sounds as if the parents were relentless. Ultimately though, six officers, seizure of devices and an arrest is not an appropriate response to a school dispute, especially as it appears no crime has been committed.

But what do you do if the school won't respond?

Can honey say there's never been any moaning about the school on our WhatsApp group. There's been verbal moans here and there about one particular member of staff of which the head is aware because parents make appointments.

What makes you say that?

What have they done, other than advocate for the child who has complex needs? They don't look like your typical chavs and it sounds like they were tetrad in an irresponsible manner. What is vexatious communication on what's app? How does criticising something about school on what'sapp differ to criticising them over a drinks at the pub or coffee at the local cafe?

I hate rude and aggressive people but sometimes you can find them among school staff, and sometimes among school parents. There are some school secretaries that seriously lack any professional or social skills same for some parents but school has got to remain professional. I'd not want my child at this school.

edited for ridiculous typing

He wasn't a former MP at the time he comitted the assault.

I can only assume people who complain "why did they need six police" have never been involved in anything physical.

They don't send six policemen for the safety of the police. Two policemen would probably be perfectly capable of arresting someone who resisted if they behaved with no regard for the safety of the arrestee.

If you are going to safely remove someone who is resisting from a building without causing harm to them, then yes, you need six.

He assaulted someone? Well that does change the picture completely.