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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it is ridiculous that the school have confiscated MY phone????

380 replies

Slipperyslopin · 15/02/2013 16:27

DS (14) was going out last night with a friend to see a movie after school. He didn't know when it ended and then we couldn't find it on the website so I told him to take his phone so he could call me afterwards and I could collect him. He told me his phone wasn't charged, so I gave him my one. He is very trustworthy and careful and I knew he wouldn't lose it, besides I'm not on call at the moment so I wouldn't need it during the day, and I'd rather he had a way to contact me if needed. During school the phone turned on in his pocket (Iphones Angry ) and an alert went off for an update or something. His teacher heard it and confiscated the phone as they are not allowed in school, even if off. DS then had to call me from the office to say he would use his friends phone instead. All fine, fair enough I thought. However I then found out that the school policy is to keep the phone for a fortnight. I have unpredictable shift patterns and I actually do need that phone back, it has important work contacts on and is the number I am generally contacted on by whole family as we don't have a landline atm. So I went in and explained the situation and they REFUSED to return it! They've said they're keeping it for the full 2 weeks. I told them, it's a work phone, it has confidential stuff on it, it has all my work contacts and is an emergency number for DH on his passport, and as he is in France at the moment I needed that phone back. They just kept repeating that it is policy and they can't return it, I even had the head teacher tell me this! Surely it's against the law! I need that phone and they WILL NOT return it to me! What should I do? Can I get some form of legal action done here? This feels a hell of a lot like theft to me. I'm so beyond angry at them, any advice?

OP posts:
SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 15/02/2013 16:58

Personally I think it is kind of crazy that they aren't allowed phones at school (although I completely agree with temporarily (until end of day) confiscating if it comes out of a bag or makes a distracting noise. What about kids who have to go somewhere after school and need a phone to arrange for a ride/contact parent during weekend away/have health concerns and need emergency phone.

I think the two week suspension makes more sense if the student is a repeat offender and keeps ignoring the rules. I'm guessing OP's ds wasn't...? At our schools we have the end of day, then parent collect, then taken away for a period of time which I think is a fair system. I have seen the VP return phones to a kid who has a good reason, is contrite and willing to write an essay. I have also seen him turn down a kid because they keep breaking the rule.

TheNebulousBoojum · 15/02/2013 16:58

Why don't you ask your work to phone the school and insist on the return of their property?

DieDeutschLehrerin · 15/02/2013 16:59

Ok, having looked here www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/advice/f0076803/behaviour-and-discipline-in-schools-a-guide-for-headteachers-and-school-staff/confiscation-of-inappropriate-items
It's not theft and it's up to the school how they deal with confiscated property.
Providing it is stored securely and they have acted legally in taking it in the first place, then the school and teachers are protected by law.
However, according to this website www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/confiscation-retention-and-disposal-of-pupils-property-2363
The length of time the item is kept should be 'proportionate', so you could argue that one with them. Personally I would try the swap but it does seem as if the school has acted legally.

featherbag · 15/02/2013 16:59

YANBU, I hope you're sitting in the office refusing to move and threatening to call the police.

flaggybannel · 15/02/2013 16:59

"stoatie" - thanks, i didnt know that. There was suppossed to be £5 worth of credit left on it too (pre- pay)

My ds was more enraged about the music at the time, we were just relieved to get it back in one piece

GeetTallBird · 15/02/2013 16:59

My iPhone does that all the time, it's turned onto silent with the side button but if it wants to make a noise it just DOES. There's an issue with the side sound on-off button on older models, trust me. Lots of threads on this on the apple website.
I hope you got your phone back by now?

sweetestB · 15/02/2013 16:59

OP is now making a fool of herself, explaining why she let her child brake the rules with her own work phone full of important stuff in it.

GloriaPritchett · 15/02/2013 17:00

Presumably the OP would be in deep shit if she told her work what she'd done.

CloudsAndTrees · 15/02/2013 17:01

If he played with it then left it on, he is to blame. Presumably he knows the school policy?

You really should have thought about it properly, and drummed it into him that it needs to stay off, and be on silent if you are convinced that iPhones really do switch themselves on (which they don't).

It's also well worth drumming into your child that if they are going be trusted to go out to the cinema alone, than they also have responsibility for making sure their phone is charged. I would be very very cross with my ds in your situation.

Remotecontrolduck · 15/02/2013 17:03

You need to stand in the office and demand it is given back. Literally, just not move until they've given it back. I'm not one for being dramatic but call the non emergency police. They have no authority to do this, what the actual fuck?

As an aside? No phones at all in school? For a secondary school? I've never heard of this. I'm all for it being off and texting in lessons gets it taken away until the end of the day but NO phones? Surely they cannot dictate that you cannot use one on the way to and from school?! Especially when students travel in miles probably and transport is unreliable?

TheNebulousBoojum · 15/02/2013 17:03

The school should have a written policy that sets out the rules and the consequences for breaking them. My school holds phones for 24 hours the first couple of times, and the child can pick it up, then a parent has to come in and sign for it. So they could point out that the rules are clear, and that the responsibility is yours.
There ought to be room for flexibility though, I'm surprised the head turned you down.

BarbarianMum · 15/02/2013 17:04

So you gave your very important work phone full of confidential information to your son to take to school even though he is not allowed a mobile at school and it went off in class and now the school have confiscated it in line with a policy that you undoubtedly had agreed to up to this point.

Struggling to find any sympathy tbh

sweetestB · 15/02/2013 17:04

What is wrong with using a public phone anyway?
isn't what people used to do all the time before mobile phones?

SauvignonBlanche · 15/02/2013 17:04

Does your work know what's happened OP?

TheNebulousBoojum · 15/02/2013 17:05

TBH there aren't that many public phones around any more.

Original poster
Slipperyslopin · 15/02/2013 17:06

I agree that I acted stupidly, but from experience DS has allways been trustworthy and reliable. I assumed he's be the same in this situation. I'm just posting this and will then be on my way with his phone to the school to ask for a swap. They'll still be open I presume at 5 past 5? [confused}

OP posts:
Remotecontrolduck · 15/02/2013 17:06

Second what was said about not many public phones around now, and a hell of a lot don't take cash either!! I'm Shock the school are being like this. What a nightmare

sweetestB · 15/02/2013 17:06

I see public phones all the time everywhere
And people actually using them

StuntGirl · 15/02/2013 17:07

Have you ever heard of the data protection act OP? If you deal with confidential information you will have signed something at work about it. And yet you gave your phone with confidential info to your son to take into school.

Aside from the fact you broke the rules at school despite knowing they weren't allowed phones, that fact ^ alone would get you fired in a lot of companies.

Perhaps you both need to learn a lesson from this.

Remotecontrolduck · 15/02/2013 17:08

Definitely not here i'm afraid, and not a single one takes cash!

TheNebulousBoojum · 15/02/2013 17:08

It's the work phone bit that I'm finding hard to understand. I'm a teacher, I often use my camera to take photos in school, but I remove the card and leave it in school to avoid taking images of children off the premises. Likewise confidential information has to stay confidential, even to the extent of having an encrypted memory stick for records and such.
How can you just hand over a work phone with all that entails to a teenager who may well play with it and access or tamper with the contents? Accidently or not.

sweetestB · 15/02/2013 17:08

Also OP your son may be trustworthy but thieves aren't.

IAmLouisWalsh · 15/02/2013 17:09

Good luck standing and demanding. We would lock up around OP and leave...

IAmLouisWalsh · 15/02/2013 17:10

And we are shut by 4.30 on a Friday

Original poster
Slipperyslopin · 15/02/2013 17:10

Ok, when I say work phone I mean, "phone that has contacts from people at work which I use to call work colleages" not one that has been given to me by them and the confidential stuff is just emails from the company about work, which I was iffy about the school seeing :/

OP posts: