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AIBU?

to think that this teacher should keep his job?

174 replies

kweggie · 27/07/2013 10:35

Dean Macfarlane, a teacher,who faced 18 months of abuse from schoolchildren is facing the sack after pushing a boy who spat at him
He became frustrated after being hit with snowballs and said youths had gone into his garden and damaged property. Macfarlane was handed a community order after admitting assault but he fears he may lose job he has had for 34 years at school in Doncaster .
I read this and wondered what had happened to the kids who apparently harrassed him, trespassed and spat at him? What would you say to your children?

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babybythesea · 27/07/2013 21:28

And now I've realised I didn't put why point 1 was relevant - it was because a child was being obnoxious and teacher was in the process of organising a meeting with the parents to discuss his behaviour after he'd sworn at and taken a swing at another teacher. Parent didn't like the accusation that his son was a thug and set out to prove otherwise....

curlew · 27/07/2013 22:14

"Macfarlane said that he was involved"

So the word of somebody so stressed out and at the end of his tether that he lost control is now gospel truth? I have a 12 year old. I have sometimes not been able to distinguish him from all the other fair haired 12 year olds in football kit in a match. If there was a gaggle of them and I was frightened and stressed out, I am pretty sure I wouldn't be sure I could pick one out.

Crumbledwalnuts · 27/07/2013 22:29

It is really stretching it to say that because you wouldn't recognise your son in a fair haired football team this man could not recognise a boy who had been harassing him for 18 months and was at that moment harassing him.

curlew · 27/07/2013 22:35

Crumbledwalnuts- i don't know! That's the point. We have no facts.

I am not particularly enamoured of the the judicial system in this country, but every single time there is a case like this (Tony Martin springs to mind) there is more to it than meets the eye. I am just not prepared to go on what the Daily Mail and The Sun tells me. So I stick to what I actually know until I get more facts.

Crumbledwalnuts · 28/07/2013 07:11

Oh it's the Daily Mail again. So that's why you hold your point of view.

In the same way that people don't take seriously a DM link, I'm no longer going to take seriously people who object to something because it was in the Daily Mail.

Crumbledwalnuts · 28/07/2013 07:13

Yorkshire Post

We are Barnsley

curlew · 28/07/2013 09:34

Well, at least the "We are Barnsley" article has a bit more in it, and isn't the identical syndicated piece the others are!

Seriously, are you really prepared to make judgements based on so few facts? Doesn't it concern you even slightly that a martial arts expert "lost control" even "momentarily" with a 12 year old? Even an obviously repulsive 12 year old?

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2013 09:57

curlew

That Macfarlane said that the boy was involved is far more believable than the boy saying "it wasn't me".

"are you really prepared to make judgements based on so few facts?"
Only in the same way that you are.

JenaiMorris · 28/07/2013 10:15

The comments on that We Are Barnsley link are gold.

curlew · 28/07/2013 10:20

I'm not making any judgements at all! That is rather the point!

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2013 10:21

curlew

the martial arts bit only comes from the comments, it hasn't been mentioned anywhere else in an article (that I have seen) yet you are now posting it as the "Truth"

curlew · 28/07/2013 10:23

Sorry- I thought the martial arts thing was in all the reports. If it isn't then I withdraw that reference.

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2013 10:43

Curlew

If it wasn't for the harassment that this man has suffered, I would agree (in principle) that a person who assaults a child shouldn't be in a job with children.

What I feel that this case shows us is that each case should be on a case by case basis, taking all of the circumstances in to account.

Theexisapsychocunt · 28/07/2013 10:49

I like the comments as well - if you read them this "traumatised" boy and his father turned up at the teachers house and only went to the police when he wouldn't answer the door to them.

The more I read the more sorry I feel for the teacher.

JenaiMorris · 28/07/2013 11:03

The family suffered a virile attack at the hands of the teacher's partner apparently

Catkinsthecatinthehat · 28/07/2013 11:05

The comments on that We Are Barnsley link are gold.

They are aren't they? There are lots of former pupils defending the teacher, saying it's completely out of character, he's spent years teaching in tough schools, and was a great educator blah blah. And then there's 'Andy' who insists that the teacher is a martial arts expert, full of rage, and addicted to steroids who headbutted the victim twice (but failed to cause any injury)

Unfortunately for Andy he has to later admit that he's the father of the victim who dropped his kid off near the teacher's house (comment at 17:18) and in his comment at 18:44 indicates that when his kid gets a bit bigger he's going to beat MacFarlane up and will have his dad's full support.

There's also a comment apparently from MacFarlane's next door neighbour (at 23:31) detailing the harassment and which indicates that 'Andy' is actually a policeman.

Roshbegosh · 28/07/2013 11:28

Poor bloke trying to educate the we are Barnsley crowd.

BoneyBackJefferson · 28/07/2013 11:43

As we are deconstructing the posts from Barnsley.

If "andy" had been preparing the sledge all morning and had only dropped his son off ten minutes previously. Where was the sledge?

rabbitlady · 28/07/2013 11:56

you have no idea what it is like to be victimised by pupils acting as a pack of 1000 or more.

it destroys people.

ilovesooty · 28/07/2013 14:12

I am just not prepared to go on what the Daily Mail and The Sun tells me

Yet you believe the stuff you posted above about Christmas and black coffee?

ilovesooty · 28/07/2013 14:14

Scrap that: I think you might be saying that you don't believe it.

I feel desperately sorry for the teacher. I hope his feral little tormenters rot in hell.

JenaiMorris · 28/07/2013 18:21

It was a very well prepared sledge.

Toadinthehole · 29/07/2013 06:09

Curlew

Compared to where I live now (NZ), the UK is a terribly rule-bound place. On the occasion I've been back it strikes me again and again just how regulated its society is, and how a necesary skill is being able to negotiate those rules - whether one is buying a pair of shoes, travelling on a train, you name it.

The advantage is that the rules stop some bad stuff happen. The disadvantage is that it kills common sense - an example being that a man can be barred from teaching for life simply for one occasion of shoving a youth into a hedge. That's unjust regardless of what was done to him.

kweggie · 31/07/2013 00:57

Toad, I so agree about 'common sense'.

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