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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:
Ta1kinPeece · 13/10/2017 18:03

But the teacher did not try to return it to its owner
or find out why the child had it

and a "charity box" is a nice excuse IMHO

Pengggwn · 13/10/2017 18:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 13/10/2017 18:10

If it wasn't found on the school property, it wasn't her business.
Have a word OP, and get it back for your lovely little girl.

Sprinklestar · 13/10/2017 18:12

The teacher took money from a child in her class. That's wrong for starters. Maybe the money shouldn't have been in school but it was, and the teacher now has no way to prove whether she took £1 or £100. Very silly IMO.

helpfulperson · 13/10/2017 18:14

Well you learn something every day. Up until know I had presumed that every adult who found money in the street when it wasn't enough to try and trace the owner put it in a charity box. Certainly all the ones I know do .

To teach your daughter than money lying around is fair game is a very dangerous message.

hippyhippyshake · 13/10/2017 18:14

All of you who want the op to go in and 'demand' the money back - do you yourselves ever get anywhere by 'demanding'? Seems such an odd thing to insist on doing, especially as op might not have the full story. Always best to get both sides before making 'demands'. Even then, a reasonable discussion will get better results.

Pengggwn · 13/10/2017 18:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MaisyPops · 13/10/2017 18:22

Pengggwn
I agree. But it is oh so predictable on here.

If it were me I would have confiscated it and handed it in to our student reception. It could have gone to charity if nobody had claimed it / the OP could have called in and explained her odd game.

I wouldn't have made thr teacher's decision but there's a whole pile of silly outrage on this thread.

KeepItAsItIs · 13/10/2017 18:26

Only on MN can people get so ridiculous over a child picking up some bloody money and saving it! Your child is fine OP. The teacher (and many on here) are way ott about a bloody pound found on a public path!

Katedotness1963 · 13/10/2017 18:27

I have never heard of a classroom charity box before. Not during my school years. Not in the international school my boys went to. Not in primary or High School they went to in Scotland and not in the American high school they go to now. Is this usual now? Where does the money come from?

Shiftymake · 13/10/2017 18:34

If I/we find the random coins it does get picked up. We keep the random coins as there is no way of knowing who will be missing that pence but not if it is a note. This will either get handed into the local shop or a message will be left to be contacted. I once managed to leave behind sum money- £150 in the cash machine, due to stress. Noticed it after 10 minutes so went straight to the help desk at the nearest shop. The money had just been delivered in minutes before by a gentleman. But if I drop a couple of pounds on the ground, I will not bother looking for it if I did not notice dropping it in the first place.

So with that in mind, I would say the teacher was well out of line. It is not her business when a small coin is found, but if a child comes waving a note they found then I would expect it to be confiscated to the school office in case owner comes calling.
Likewise, if the money was found on school property then I would expect this to be taken to the school office, not be put into a charity tin.

It's the fact that the teacher took ownership over someone's money and donated it to a charity that I find appalling. I would have a quiet word with the teacher about this.

Shiftymake · 13/10/2017 18:35

some* not sum..

CotswoldStrife · 13/10/2017 18:37

I hope she would ignore any money on the floor as it's not hers! It can be left you know!

What for? In the hope it might sprout roots and turn into a money tree?

Fab as that would be, no - it's more in case the rightful owner comes looking for it!

I don't think the OP said that the teacher took the money, just that the teacher told her DD to put it in the box.

Urubu · 13/10/2017 18:41

Laughing at the answers saying the teacher was right.
So if you find a pound coin on the street, you continue walking, then 10min later when you are solewhere else someone coles up to you and demands you put the coin in their charity box you would do it? Really? Hmm

hippyhippyshake · 13/10/2017 18:46

I imagine the 'charity box' is for children who 'find' money in school. I.e. Money that isn't actually missing but someone has 'found'. I'm sure as soon as a child realises their money is missing, the teacher will say that someone 'found' it and has put it in the 'charity box'. It avoids accusations of stealing with young children.

Pengggwn · 13/10/2017 18:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Willow2017 · 13/10/2017 18:56

pengggwn
No she wasn't.
She used her power as a teacher to take something from a child then did not put it in the office on the off chance another child had lost it. She put it in a charity box therefor depriving the ops child and the possible rightful owner of the money.

It was not her decision to make. If an adult at school had found £1 on the way to work do you suppose she would have demanded they hand it over to her to do with whatever she liked? I highly doubt it.

All this angst over finding a coun on the pavement. If you see a coin are we all supposed to ignore it in case Mrs Biggs who dropped it yesterday comes looking for It? Hand it into the nearest shop - which one woyld shecgo into 'the co-op' or the butchers? What if there is no shop within half a mile?

Cannot believe the hand wringing over a bloody £1 coin.

mumoffour1716154 · 13/10/2017 19:00

YANBU, teacher just cannot take money from a child because it was found. She could have kept it until having spoken to the mum.

Pengggwn · 13/10/2017 19:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hiccupgirl · 13/10/2017 19:04

Why on earth did you not just give her the pound rather than playing games with it? And I really wouldn't be encouraging her to pick money or things up off the floor either, it's just not a nice thing to do.

If the money went in the class charity pot, the teacher didn't steal it and it's gone to a good cause.

Pengggwn · 13/10/2017 19:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Willow2017 · 13/10/2017 19:06

becotide

Give over what a ridiculous insinuation.

My ds finds money nearly every time we are out in town. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to spot the odd 5p or 1p even larger coins just lying around. He savessaves them all up to buy himself something he really wants.

If youbfind money on a bike path where there is a lot of traffic walkers, joggers, people on bikes how on earth do you 'hand it in'. Where exactly do you hand it in to?

Catrina1234 · 13/10/2017 19:07

Blime me 9 pages on this! I don't understand why the mother didn't just give the money to the child - ok she likes to find things but it's a rare occurrence and is pandering to the child too much. There wouldn't have been a problem then. Having said that I think the teacher was wrong.

Willow2017 · 13/10/2017 19:10

Hope some of you never attend a wedding in Scotland when there is a 'scramble' you would be horrified😀

strawberrypenguin · 13/10/2017 19:10

Teacher had no right to take it. I’d go in and demand it back. If the teacher was that concerned she should have spoken to you about it not forced your DD to hand it over.