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

Having worked with schools for many years who have parents like this who are vexatious complainants, I’m delighted to see that this school has taken action against them by reporting them to the police. Parents like this make headteachers’ lives a nightmare and take up an incredible amount of time in dealing with their non stop expenses, not to mention the extra costs this brings to schools, almost all of whom are in financial difficulties. More schools should take this approach.

So people should be allowed to harass other people or organisations?

I love the part that when they knocked, the mother was in the middle of sorting toys for charity.

Sure you were 😅

Oh sorry, you've just caught me in the middle of making cookies for the blind.

2 incidents of malicious communication, may be threats, harassment, bullying, depends. Obviously these may be boxed off (nfa'd, no further action) if the offender stops. Difficult to quantify, especially with the prevelance of social media and people creating false accounts. If it's deemed to be worth prosecution, police can trace IP addresses if CPS want to proceed.

I'm careful not to post anything controversial or defamatory (obviously!) I'm a prolific poster on another forum but usually it's pictures of my animals. Some people seem to think they can make racist/mysogynist etc posts and it's all fine. I'm forever reminding my students that what they post can come back to bite them in the future. I can't remember the details off hand but a young woman liked a post on social media then some years later applied for a post within the police and was turned down due to her social media history.

That’s a lot of conjecture there. We don’t know the substance or merits of the complaints. Ultimately though people should not be arrested for saying lawful things on social media.

well said. the parents were moderate in their behaviour and - despite the heavy-handed deployment of the police to their home, and the incarceration - there was no case to answer.

x.com/timesradio/status/1905693691416883419?s=46

That headline is so misleading - it makes it sound as though it was one complaint and it was outrageous they were arrested. Good for the school for complaining to the police. My OH is a primary school teacher and some of the communications he has received from entitled parents has been so abusive and rude. These adults wouldn't dream of emailing a colleague in such a way, so why they think it's acceptable to treat their child's teacher like that is beyond me.

I noticed that 😄

As opposed to, for example, being busy calling the headteacher a control freak on WhatsApp.

She didn’t harass anyone though did she. The police stated no crime was committed. She complained about her child’s school- yes she absolutely should be able to do that.

She called someone a “control freak”

Blimey. Straight to the gallows for her 🙄

If you read the article closely the husband is "a producer at Times Radio" so there's probably more to it than meets the eye. I imagine there's a massive backstory here that we're not privy to as otherwise this seems to have escalated very quickly.

You should be allowed to question your child's school but it sounds like their actions went a bit beyond that.

Ultimately we're not going to find out as the school can't comment on this at all.

Thank goodness the WhatsApp group for my daughter's class is relatively civilised and all we talk about is when the kids are on holiday and lost coats. There was one parent trying to cause trouble but thankfully everyone else just ignored their drama and didn't engage with it.

It might be uncomfortable for teachers to be criticized but it’s a hugely important part of civic society that we can criticize schools and other public services.

You're conflating free speech with abuse, threats and intimidation. That's what teachers face day in, day out in our so-called civic society. It's not like being 1* on Tripadvisor.

The article is fairly well sanitised in favour of the couple.
It doesn't help that the school is legally unable to put forward their side.

I totally agree with you User46576.

6 police officers? Why arrest in the first place - what was the crime? No crime and no charges ensued. So in effect the police were prepared to act for the school to put the frighteners on the parents.

I'm really worried about free speech in this country too. Reminds me of Sussex university deciding to allow Professor Kathleen Stock to be bullied over her gender critical views.

Unpopular opinions are also allowed in a free society.

If the parents' communications contained hate speech, incitement to violence, racism etc the police would have charged them. Although they should not have been arrested like violent criminals in front of their children.

Just maybe, maybe - the school might need looking into too? Or are all institutions totally fine? I don't think so.

It is outrageous they were arrested. And outrageous that the police turned up to arrest a woman for making posts critical of a school on social media. It should have been obvious that there was no criminality here.

we’ve seen similar where police arrested a woman for criticizing her local councilor. Our civil rights are being violated with ridiculous behavior like this.

I'm not sure which is worse - that poor child being home-educated by these numpties or another school having to deal with them. If she's now at another school, I bet he's trying to become a governor ...

Finally, parents being held accountable for their actions 👏
Sometimes when we open the door to parents at the start/end of day it feels like being on the frontline.
We have one parent in particular who is vile and tries to gain momentum with the other mums. So far she has completely got away with it.

Absolutely. The social media posts didn’t change after they arrested her. They could and should have determined that there was no crime beforehand.

What now? You think parents should be arrested because they criticize the school? Why should schools be beyond criticism?

Exactly. Schools need to stop trying to be so passive about defending themselves.

For example, parent complains to the Daily Mail about how it’s sooooo unfair that their child is banned from the school prom and that the school is picking on them (along with sad face photos). Schools should firmly make a statement in defence outlining why student was banned and explicitly list all the behavioural events that said student was involved in. Schools need to state what the specific behaviours were, how much the learning and happiness of other children were compromised over the years, outline how the child’s said behaviour was a detriment to the school and the community, how much learning was lost for the other students, how much teacher time was taken away from rigorous academics to deal with student behaviour, how much safer the students will be with said student not around and how much taxpayer money has been spent by the school on the fallout of child’s behaviour.

The general public needs to know the reality of how students are behaving in school. The impacts should be tangible and quantifiable. Because schools are so vague about it to preserve the dignity of the child and parent involved, it means the public only get one side of the story.

Every worker has the fundamental right to a safe and healthy workplace.

Many schools seem to forget this in favour of parents and pupils.

“Educated by these numpties”

Is this not abuse and harassment? Should you expect six officers on your doorstop for expressing this opinion?

It’s insane how many of you are cheering this on while calling them names. How can you not see how this might eventually turn on you?

I don’t think this is just a schools issue. I work in the public sector and the volume of people we get making demands has shot up. They are not reasonable people who want a discussion either they want you to do exactly as they say or they will continue to harass you/threaten legal action, get MPs or councillors involved. These people now taking up an ever increasing proportion of public resource and there is no reasonableness test.

On what basis do you claim that the school is “legally unable” to put forward their side?

I'll expect the rozzers at the door if I call them numpties 45 times.