to tell DC's school one of their staff has DV convictions?

[onemorenamechanger]

The convictions happened after they started working there, this person doesn't have contact with children. I have never even met this person and found out about this by complete fluke last night. The school may already know and be happy for him to continue to work there but should I mention it to the Head anyway? If the school didn't know already would he lose his job? I was going to ask to see the Head at drop off this morning then changed my mind but I'm starting to think I should say something. Any advice gratefully received please!

The trouble with not sharing information with relevant people is that you take away their abilities to make their own decisions about things.

In other words, not telling imposes your judgement as overriding theirs. That's not right.

I have no qualms with telling anyone what they need to know and empowering them to make their own choices with the information they have been given.

I really hope by the time my DC are grown up this attitude that DV is between the couple and the men and women who commit it are probably otherwise lovely has gone.

What joysmum said...

Why are people minimising domestic violence repeatedly.

DV is about 'defending himself' and 'swearing' are just a couple of comments

DV is also about punching teeth, fracturing skulls, breaking arms, burning

No one knows WTF the crime is. Let professionals make a decision

I could be wrong but I think domestic abuse covers swearing, emotional abuse, financial abuse etc
Domestic violence is, well, just that. Fist meets face or wherever.
So assuming the OP is correct that the conviction is for DV, it's unlikely he's yelled "bloody" a couple of times.

OP, you did the right thing.

It isn't your place to decide whether this man's convictions affect his suitability to work in a school. It is the headteacher's role to make such a judgment. If she was already aware and had decided to keep him employed, your meeting won't change anything. However, if he has neglected to disclose his convictions, HE has violated the terms of his employment.

The details of his crime are neither here nor there.

the school wouldn't necessarily be aware he was given a suspended sentence unless he told them?

It's usually a condition of employment that you inform the head of any convictions or court appearances (speeding might be an exception).

Maybe you could ask the school what their policy is on reporting crimes and how often they check?

If the convicted person is required to disclose their conviction for dv to their employer, why are people saying the op was wrong. If he has been honest with the school, then the worst is they have only been told what they should already know. If he has tried to hide his conviction from them, then the op has assisted in the truthful disclosure, in a discreet manner, to someone who should already be in possession of this knowledge.

If people believe the legal requirement for the school's employee to inform them of a criminal conviction is wrong, that is a different matter.

Way back on the first page of this thread the OP said that a suspended sentence was handed down. Let's assume that she is correct.

Even without knowing the details of the crime, we can safely infer that it was a serious offence - a suspended sentence is a custodial sentence, and can only be imposed if the offence is so serious that the perpetrator should go to prison forthwith. That is not an easy threshold to cross.

In those circumstances, what parent wouldn't want the school to be aware of what had happened?

Of the OP is correct (and she appears to believe she has her facts right) then the employer would need to know. If it is a conviction after CRB ( not right name now) issued then employer may not know. We all have a duty to safeguard. If HT does know and has judged with LEA (I expect) that he poses no risk then ok. If HT didn't know, she now can investigate and decide best course of action if it is true. If HT did know and decided on she may want to decide how to deal with what will soon be public knowledge of employees conviction . Parents will want to know. And although we would all want done privacy, if you work with kids in a school you have to be transparently trustworthy.

Excuse me for stating the bleeding obvious but if he got a convction whilst working there which would have made him a danger to children the police would have told them.

There are systems in place to prevent this and stop idle tittle tattle. Look at that woman who was jailed a few weeks ago for spreading a rumour that a headmaster was suspended for abusing her daughter.

Even if it is true, do people think hounding him out of his job is the best way to stop him reoffending?

Nobody is "hounding him out of his job", aermingers. If, for whatever reason, the police haven't informed the head about his conviction, she needs to be informed so that she can make an informed decision about whether it is in everyone's best interests for him to continue working in the school.

The OP hasn't spread rumours, hasn't mobilised a vigilante group to protest at the school, and hasn't asked the head to fire the bloke.

There are a lot of if and buts on this thread.

I believe that the OP took the correct action.

It has been suggested up thread but it is worth repeating.

The cleaner/caretaker/janitor may not be employed by the school. He may have told his employer who may or may not have told the school.

I think you've done the right think, OP. Chances are that if someone applied for a job as a cleaner in a school with convictions for violence, they wouldn't get the job. Getting the convictions while already being employed might not lead to the loss of a job - the school would know the person better and be in a better position to make a risk assessment and a decision as to whether the employment can continue.

But I think the school would prefer to be in a position to actively make that decision, rather than be left to trundle on until the information is triggered in some way.

I am a criminal lawyer, and I wouldn't necessarily expect the police to notify someone's employer. Probation will be involved if there's a suspended sentence in place, and they would certainly raise concerns if someone had relevant convictions and was known to be working with children, but you're relying on him having given accurate information to his probation officer, and that probation officer making a decision to act upon it. There's a chance that the information never filtered through to the school.

Suspended sentences aren't generally given out lightly. If someone gets one, it's generally an indicator of one of three things:

1. An offence too serious for a community order
2. Previous offences of a similar nature
3. A single previous offence and non-compliance with a community order

This could be someone whose circumstances mean that there's unlikely to be a repeat of the violence, or it could be someone who's in the middle of an escalation of offending. The school should hopefully be able to put their hands on information that will put them in a position to decide whether they want to take a risk on him being the former, rather than the latter.