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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Teacher 'donated' Dds money!

435 replies

WoWoWorrier · 13/10/2017 13:55

My daughter has a knack for 'finding pennies'. She is 8. She collects the 5ps/10ps she finds for sweeties and the 1ps and 2ps go in a piggy bank until it's full. She find a them outside on the floor.

On the way to school yesterday she was saying that she wanted a mini figit spinner from the machine outside our local newsagents.
She had been super good this week and I was already planning on giving her £2 as a reward but she said 'I might find a pound!' So to humour her 'abilities' I dropped a pound a few minutes later and she spotted it.

She was super excited.

When I picked her up from school she was quiet and when we got near the ship I asked her if she wanted to get her toy she told me she had been telling her friend she had found a pound on the way to school and the teacher said it wasn't hers to spend and told her to put it in the classroom charity collection box!!

Aibu to demand it back and be quite pissed off?

OP posts:
sashh · 14/10/2017 07:57

Dippingmytoesin

Please read the rest of my post.

I was brought up with the idea that money you picked up doesn't belong to you but if it is a small amount you put it in a charity box, that is what the teacher did.

Willow2017 · 14/10/2017 07:58

L.i
Theft by finding does not apply in any case where you would be unable to trace the owner by reasonable steps. In the case of finding a small coin on a public path there is no way you could trace The owner so it is not a crime (as had alredy already been pointed out further up the thread)

The coin was found on a bike path there was no way anyonevckukd prove it belonged to a particular person

And if it was put in a sealed charity box the teacher could not open it and retrieve it. They are collected by the charity and opened elsewhere. The teacher didn't think at all past her own opinion on what should happen to the coin.

Armadillostoes · 14/10/2017 07:59

The teacher set a dreadful example by stealing what to the child was a meaningful amount of money. I think that having a word with the teacher about that would be appropriate. Confiscating property for a period of time is normal and appropriate for teachers in some circumstances, but unless something is illegal or dangerous ot shouldn't be permanently taken.

I agree though that this has to be tackled by a parent not an 8 year old.

Ercoldiningchair · 14/10/2017 08:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 14/10/2017 08:05

Teacher wasn't trying to find the owner at all she/he was being a holier than thou prick.
It was not her money to decide what to do with I agree!

2rebecca · 14/10/2017 08:10

I pick up money if I see it. I have handed stuff in to the police but they look unimpressed with having do do all the paperwork for something trivial and often visiting a police station isn't convenient.
£1 found on the pavement would just go in my purse. I suspect the only lesson the girl has learnt here is that if you have money don't mention it to friends who might get jealous and tell the teacher. The teacher should not have removed the £1 coin but may have become concerned if other kids said your daughter was always finding money in case it wasn't lost.
I wouldn't do anything more about it

GruffaloPants · 14/10/2017 08:16

So what do all you who think the teacher was right, and that the OP was teaching her daughter terrible values, do when you find a pound in the street? Put up posters? Start a Twitter campaign? Take it to a police station?

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 14/10/2017 08:30

Last time I looked into handing something into the police I found they're not interested really, they will tell you to use Twitter or Facebook/ advertise in your local area to see if anyone comes forward. They wouldn't be interested in a pound being handed in!

MaisyPops · 14/10/2017 08:32

gruffalo
I wouldn't have put it in a charity box, but I would have taken it til the end of the day / until i found out what was going on

Child says they've found money on the floor, my guy instinct is that floor is inside (i would say ground for outside) & it may be someone's lunch money, which is why I would take it and we could discuss it later.

I would also say that there's a difference between spotting a quid atbthe park and thinking 'ooh that's lucky' and going through average life teaching your child to scavange for pennies. If that's the 'game' OP wants to have then fine, but i think she also needs to teach her child that there are situations she needs to hand money in. E.g. if she found a quid in school then it is different to a footpath.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 14/10/2017 08:35

We used to love spotting pennies as children, see a penny, pick it up and all the day you'll have good luckSmile

AndrewJames · 14/10/2017 08:37

The teacher is attempting to impart a principle - that you keep NOTHING that is not yours

By taking something that was not hers? Well done.

Pengggwn · 14/10/2017 08:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pengggwn · 14/10/2017 08:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Toadinthehole · 14/10/2017 08:39

Well it is technically 'theft by finding', so the teacher is right it isn't hers (teacher does not know you dropped it).

Actually conversion, if we're being v anorakish. Money was left deliberately (ie, not abandoned) on the ground for child to find therefore gift over to the child effective when child found money. Teacher took money, presumably innocently. Result, conversion of child's property, ie, 1 coin.

Fwiw, if I find a small amount of money on the ground, I keep it unless I know who dropped it, and I would tell my kids to the same as it's common sense and entirely legal.

Ercoldiningchair · 14/10/2017 08:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YeahButNo · 14/10/2017 08:59

I think you should ask for it back as it was yours, but I do think the teacher was right in teaching kids to hand in any money/valuables to authorities.

Armadillostoes · 14/10/2017 09:21

The teacher didn't teach the child to hand money in, she took it. An eight year old had no say in the matter. She made some incorrect assumptions and then stole someone else's property-all in all not great. Had she confiscated the money for the day that would have been reasonable, but insisting that it go into the charity box was wrong. She needs to apologise because she has sent a dreadful message about personal property and respect.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 14/10/2017 09:24

I just think that to drop a penny (or a pound) to ‘humour the abilities’ of a child aged 8, rather than give them a reward for good behaviour is a most odd way to carry on I think it's sweet, bit like the tooth fairy.

Willow2017 · 14/10/2017 09:24

It was not her decision to make. She should have asked the parent what they wanted the child to do with it. It wasnt the teachers money. There was no way the child can find the owner of a coin dropped on a busy path. It was hers to keep according to the law There for the teacher was wrong.

Willow2017 · 14/10/2017 09:35

Yeah
You would hand in a £1 coin to the nearest police station which could be miles away from a bike path expecting the owner to go looking for It and the police to do paperwork on £1coin? What a waste of time all round.

I am sure op would hand in any large sums of money found but a £1 or 20p etc is not the same.

SandyBeachandtheDeckchairs · 14/10/2017 09:42

I think that the Teacher was in a tricky position really, if a child came up to her and said they had found some money, she would have to make a value judgement pretty rapidly based on her professional judgement. Would it be good to tell child to just keep it? Not a very good example to set everyone, as there would then be a spate of money being 'found' around the school and the teacher blamed for it "miss said we could keep any money we found". She (rightly in my view) said that found money should go in the charity box, thus making it less attractive for the rest of the children to "find" money. Whatever your ideas about this at home, the school has to be consistent and 'do the right thing' in accordance with the school values.
As pp said, it's a bit odd to encourage your child to 'find pennies' like that. Pocket money would be the way forward in my view.

Shiftymake · 14/10/2017 10:33

I disagree with the point of setting standards by putting money in charity tins, for me that makes the teacher the thief. Confiscate is more agreeable and correct when it comes to goods found. I would be very unimpressed with a teacher who did this and would address the teacher and possibly head if need be as she is setting a precedence with is borderline illegal.

Pooshweens · 14/10/2017 11:31

Just drop another quid FFS

codswallopandbalderdash · 14/10/2017 11:38

Personally I would ask the teacher for the money back and say it wasn't her decision what to do with it and if you and your DD decide to give money to charity it will be a charity of your choosing. I'm ok with teacher taking money away till the end of the day, but she should be giving it back.

AndrewJames · 14/10/2017 11:41

But she didn't take it. She told the girl to give it to charity. That isn't taking it and keeping it, which is the moral issue here

but she did. She took it from the child and gave it to charity, It was not hers to give. That IS taking it and keeping it as far as the child sees it. It was not hers to give to charity.