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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Personal items stolen from me by a pupil in my class

70 replies

annieprue · 05/02/2015 09:25

Valuable items were stolen from me (4 USBs with personal/school info on) by a child whose class I taught. She admitted the theft eventually. Nothing was done. My contract ended shortly after and I wrote to the head - nothing! I have since written to the Chair of Governers to ask what has been done and apart from one short reply I have heard nothing and my emails and letters go ignored.

This school is in special measures, the original head was ousted out and the place is in a shambles. I was loath to report it to the Police but considering the way they have handled it (rudeness to me, the child not reprimanded in any way, lack of support, extreme stress for me) I am now considering doing so. What so others think?

OP posts:
Longtalljosie · 05/02/2015 09:26

Did you get your USBs back?

WeCameWeSawWePlayedConkers · 05/02/2015 09:26

What is your end goal - punishment of the child or retrieval of your stolen property?

PolterGoose · 05/02/2015 09:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DropYourSword · 05/02/2015 09:29

How old was the kid. Police is a bit much I reckon.

DreamingofSummer · 05/02/2015 09:30

Report to the police. The only way the child and the school will take this seriously is to involve the police.

It's an offence even if you got your belongings back.

If you do nothing the kid will think they got away with it and the school won't improve its systems

MrsHathaway · 05/02/2015 09:31

How do you know the child wasn't punished? If you aren't on the staff it's none of your business.

I agree also that your data protection procedures suck.

DreamingofSummer · 05/02/2015 09:31

Goose - CLASSIC! Victim blaming.

Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses · 05/02/2015 09:34

goose really!?

wanderings · 05/02/2015 09:34

Blimey. I would say police; by the sound of it, the school does not have much to lose. If only to cover your own back, because the sticks with school info would in theory be your responsibility, and you would not want to be accused of anything, especially if you haven't got the sticks back. However, I am not familiar with how schools (even badly failing ones) treat whistleblowers, so best to wait for someone with more experience to give you advice.

(Slightly off the point, and not very helpful; just been reading the Chalet School when Thekla attempted to get Joyce into trouble; and mostly because she showed no remorse whatsoever, she was expelled on the spot. The headmistress told her for good measure that she now had to plead mercy from God. I'm struggling to imagine even a Catholic School head saying that these days! Sometimes you want to long for the days when heads could dispense justice on the spot; although could be a mixed blessing, I know.)

MidniteScribbler · 05/02/2015 09:34

You're lucky you weren't fired. You never leave ANYTHING with any personal information anywhere that it can be taken. Leaving four USBs laying around - just plain idiotic. If you are a teacher, then you should know full well that according to data protection, and since you are no longer an employee, that they cannot divulge any information to you about how the incident has been handled or any reprimand or consequences given to the student responsible for the theft.

You can make a complaint to the police of course, but I suspect you've broken quite a few clauses in your contract by leaving the items where they can be taken.

DreamingofSummer · 05/02/2015 09:38

When called the scene of the theft Officers Hathaway and Goose immediately arrrested the victim, convicted her for data protection abuse and subjected her to 12 months on-line criticism.

When asked about the thief and how they had stolen the goods, both officers invoked their statutory rights to be arsey and not ask for details.

Both have now been sent for advanced victim blaming training and will then be sent to a specialist unit in Rotherham.

MidniteScribbler · 05/02/2015 09:42

Oh good grief, it's not victim blaming. You are required to take care not to leave any personal information laying around, and it's pretty damned obvious why. Leaving not one, but four, USB sticks sitting around is careless and a stupid thing to do. It's basic protocol - if you're leaving the classroom, you take the USB/laptop with you, or lock it in the drawer, turn on the password protection, whatever. If you're foolish enough to keep sensitive information on a USB stick, then you make damned sure it has a password on it.

MrsNuckyThompson · 05/02/2015 09:43

Well, it sounds to me that you are actually angry at the school for the lack of action they have taken. But if you go to the police, it will be the child who is punished, not the school. I am not saying that is necessarily wrong, but it might be worth truly considering who you want to impact here.

DreamingofSummer · 05/02/2015 09:50

Midnite

And where in the OP did you learn that she left "four USB sticks lying around" and didn't lock them up?

The theft as far as we know could have been from a car that was broken into.

Nationalmust · 05/02/2015 09:51

:):) dreaming
Did you get back the usbs? If you have your data then just be glad to walk away from the place.

This is only extremely stressful if you make it so- calling the police won't make it less stressful I suspect!

I would also ignore the posters blaming you. Many schools have no age place for valuables for staff. The usbs may have been in your bag or coat or desk and that is often as secure as storage can get. You may if corse not even had your own desk who knows.

PolterGoose · 05/02/2015 09:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MissDuke · 05/02/2015 09:55

Op, can you confirm if the items have been returned to you?

MrsHathaway · 05/02/2015 09:55

Grin Dreaming - like it!

A child steals goods to a small intrinsic value (data sticks are cheap) and later owns up. Age of child significant but not stated. Return or otherwise of goods significant but not stated.

Specialist/supply teacher/other professional carries personal data on unprotected media, and leaves said media unattended.

If I were here I wouldn't have reported the theft either, because I wouldn't have wanted my (potentially greater) offence brought to the attention of ... well, anybody.

OP is only considering police because she is dissatisfied by the school's actions, but (1) she isn't privy to those actions and (2) the school's response ought to be completely separate from a police response anyway.

So I don't think OP should go to the police. And it's definitely a good job I'm not a police officer...

UncleT · 05/02/2015 09:57

So, we know NO details about the exact circumstances of the theft, but they were definitely just left carelessly lying around? Fuck, I hope you people aren't allowed to serve on a jury.

MrsHathaway · 05/02/2015 09:57

*if I were her

OfaFrenchMind · 05/02/2015 10:10

Well, I am not suggetsing sending the kid to the gallows, but... A thief is a thief is a thief. If the school, the 'soft' solution is doing nothing, then I guess the police is the last recourse. At least to know what happened to it, and to finally drive it home that stealing is a crime, because it seems like there was not any punishment.

And tbh, OP did not say she left it laying about, but I would love to see what kind of inhouse security the school was giving to OP...

LurkingHusband · 05/02/2015 10:17

I guess it would be pissing in the wind to think the data was encrypted ?

Note: a password protected spreadsheet is not encrypted.

Mind you, if the Ministry of Justice doesn't encrypt ultra sensitive data and loses it in the post, you can't be too hard on the OP Sad.

Primaryteach87 · 05/02/2015 10:19

It's unlikely the OP left them 'lying around'. Most likely they were in his/her bag or coat at the time. Most staff I know (due to lack of any other facillities in loads of schools) keep all sorts of valuables, house keys, wallet etc in their class. I'm not sure why you think it's okay for a child/teen to take something that doesn't belong to them? My parents would have been furious at me and frankly it just would have occurred to me. There is a MASSIVE leap between ensuring the child/teen has consequences to sending them to prison (incidentally would never happen for a non-violent, first offence like that). Most likely they'd get a talking to (if younger) or a caution (if older).

Primaryteach87 · 05/02/2015 10:20

^would not have occurred to me

wanderings · 05/02/2015 10:21

And haven't MPs been known to leave memory sticks lying around on trains, containing the entire data of the citizens of the UK?

Are they in prison?