or is the school head?

[pingu2209]

A friend of mine is a keen facebook messager. She leaves messages on facebook about every aspect of her life. This includes events at school, good and bad. Her messages regarding the school are not about individual people, but about the school system or how it is run.

In recent weeks she has added 3 separate messages on facebook about the school. Firstly, the hours they have given her children at nursery. Secondly, the way the school disciplined one of her children when they were naughty. Thirdly, the way a teacher had shoved one of her children over when disciplining another one of her children. Her children are 3, 4, and 5 year old twins.

Yesterday, the head of the school asked her to stop adding any messages to facebook about what happens at the school. My opinion on this is that, as long as it isn't personal about an individual, messaging about the school is part of freedom of expression.

I agree with the head too.
I think it is inappropriate to be commenting on FB about personal incidents like this.
I also think your friend is over reacting. the teacher had to get to another child, perhaps she told your friend's child to get out of the way and they stood their gormlessly in the way, hence the accidental push.
Perhaps you could suggest your friend spends less time on fb and more time parenting her own children.

Are people friends with their kids' teachers on FB?

I imagine some are, which is strange imo.

But thats not the only way the school could have found out. Another parent could have informed the school and I assume the 'friend' isn't intelligent enough to have decent security settings.

Seems like all parties involved are lacking in decorum; your friend is acting more like a student that a parent and the teachers and parents should not be friends on FB. These are serious accusations and not suitable FB fodder. I don't understand what's wrong with people.

quite apart from this incident, which sounds ill-advised, I'd unfriend someone who was so tedious as to document every single incident of their lives, she sounds dreadfully self-absorbed if she thinks anyone really gives a shit about any of this!

I'm with the head on this one. Your friend is acting completely unprofessionally. My sympathy is with the teacher in this instance, and in a lot of other instances where people use FB to undermine / slag them off etc without any right to reply.

"The head said he would deal with it and said it was unacceptable to shove a child hard enough that they fell over (or at all, of course)."

I really doubt that this is what the head actually said, he / she hasn't heard the teachers version at that point and to say that is prejudging it. It is more likely to have been, "I'm sorry that your child was pushed, I will look into it further and get back to you / deal with it appropriately."

saski who said the teacher was friends with the parent?

I agree with the head teacher. Teachers can't discuss the pupils or their parents on Facebook...why does your friend think she can?

Also,she needs to get out more and stop posting streams of consciousness before she gets herself into trouble/further embarrasses herself.

I'd suggest your 'friend' removes her children from the school.

Not for her sake but the sanity of the school.

no one said that the teacher was friends on FB with her but it was asked whether teachers did actually do this which they do.

I feel sorry for teachers and anyone in that sort of job as people are so critical of them and don't actually consider it may be an accident or the DCs fault etc etc.

Mrsmelons are you responding to me?

If so my comments to saski was in reference to her saying that 'all parties were acting without decorum' in reference to teachers and parents being fb friends.

I was pointing out that now has said they are fb friends therefore the school and teacher are not 'acting without decorum'.

If you were not, then sorry. :)

places at schools can be withdrawn, i think. where else would your friend like her child to go?

I think the HT needs to realise that people will post whatever they want on FB

It really depends in what your friend wrote. If a comment is negative, and claims something that can't be proved, then it's potentially libel. If it makes any kind of threat, even an empty one, then that's also illegal.

Schools are waking up to the power of FB and some are starting to take things like this very seriously. My DS's friend was permanently excluded in Y11 in the term before before her GCSEs, and received a caution from the police, because she wrote a FB status that said the headteacher was a bitch and she'd like to slash her tyres. She didn't mean it, she was venting; but the school made an example of her.

these are all things she should be talking to the had about.

RE- FB comments. Depends on the level of detail and how they were worded.

realcoalfire. Nobody can post whatever they like on Facebook. The libel laws apply there just as much as any other public medium.

it's only libellous if it's both untrue and stated as fact -not opinion.

Not strictly true,even opinion can be libellous if it has a damaging effect on the reputation of person/establishment in question.

Hence Lord McAlpine suing Sally Bercow for libel for tweeting "What's Lord McAlpine done? innocent face". That wasn't even an opinion! She was merely insinuating something,whilst not really saying anything at all. Still getting sued for libel.

People get sacked for putting their own opinion on Facebook and twitter because what employees say can damage the employers reputation.