AIBU about dd's coat?

[aleC4]

Dd was recently in a show at school. On the last night she left her coat in the changing room but didn't realise.
She went straight to her dad's and when she came back she thought she had left her coat there.
She wasn't too worried as she could get it the following Friday.
However when she got to her dads it wasn't there, so we realised she had perhaps left it at school after the show.
Then it was half term.
Today she went back to school and before registration went to lost property to see if her coat was there. The lady knew exactly which coat it was and told her she had taken it to a charity shop!
Is this normal behaviour?
I am absolutely fuming! It was a month old and she bought it with her Christmas money.
I could maybe understand it if it had been there all year and it was the summer holidays but it had only been there a week!
Do the school have a right to give clothes away just like that?
Happy to bow out if I am being unreasonable but I really don't think I am. I want my money back!
I haven't contacted school yet as dd has parents evening tomorrow so I will tackle it with someone then.

I bet the coat reappears

I would honestly skip the form tutor because they won't be able to do anything but email around a bit on your behalf. You want to go straight to the head of year. I would bring it up at parents but then follow it up with an email.

That’s disgusting op. Ynbu at all. Email for a paper trail.

I think it utterly terrible that the Lost Property Woman is clearly a thief. I bet the school will be extremely grateful of your kind offer to volunteer to sort the lost property from now on.

Yura if what you bin has some value you might get yourself into hot water legally.

This from Staffordshire Police:

Q: Can I throw the found property away or sell it?
A: You can dispose of an item (give to charity or sell it) if you've made reasonable attempts to locate the owner. Please note: if the owner finds the item for sale and is made aware that you sold it, common law entitles them to the money you received from the sale. If you give the item to charity you should advise them that the item is not yours and that you found it.

but coats, shoes and bags have definitely been chucked

I can't believe you throw away personal belongings so freely. What if there were personal items in the coats and bags?

I am not expecting anyone to 'sort' lost property, just chuck it in a box for a bit to allow kids the time to realise it's missing and look for it.

Disgraceful.
Something similair happened at my DC's school and it was the young apprentice in the office stealing.
Phones and purses mainly.

I would be extremely annoyed if this happened to me. I can't see this is reasonable behaviour at all. Our last school used to have a second hand sale once or twice a year with unclaimed or donated uniform etc. A great way to buy uniform cheaply and to raise funds for the school.

just chuck it in a box for a bit to allow kids the time to realise it's missing and look for it.

Not at all unreasonable, especially when the women in charge was the one who found it and knew how long it had been in there for.

I'd think it pretty suspicious if it turned up tomorrow.

I'd think it pretty suspicious if it turned up tomorrow.

Agreed, I think the woman who took it fancied it for a family member or even to sell on. I highly doubt it's been sent to a charity shop.

I just find it all bizarre.
Dd said there was lots of lost property still there in the lost property area, so not everything was given away.
Why would you give some to charity but not all of it?

That’s a ridiculously tight turnaround time - and this sort of thing is more complicated for children who live between two homes, I can completely understand why you would have thought that it was at her dad’s and she’d just get it next, I’d be exactly the same with my son and my ex.

It’s a bit weird that the teacher is offering to go to the shop though - if the policy really is a week then surely she’d tell your daughter that she was just following the rules and, at the most, pass on the name of the charity shop for you to try yourself.

Really out of order!

I wonder if she has kept it for herself (hence the fiction of goig to the charity shop to see if she can reclaim it)

This is not normal at all.

Well if say found a wallet with money in and handed into the police they are obliged to keep for at least a month to see if anyone claims then will go to person who found it to do as they please.

I would think a school would need to abide by the same rules?

She's nicked it I think!

I would take this to the headteacher actually. I think she's taken the coat home.

well, I am in two minds, our lost property box is cleared out at half term and end of term and thrown away/donated to charity.

I used to help do it, and we have also sold it all in the cash for clothes place and given the money back to the PTA.

BUT there are at least 2 notifications sent out to tell parents, and it is all spread out in the playground on the last day etc etc.
We also go to great lengths to find names/initials and identify them and return them, before they are ditched.

Your update about the rest of lost property though sends alarm bells ringing, if it is just that coat, then someone has nicked it.

Never mind emails, I'd be going straight in to see the head first thing tomorrow morning. The options they'd have are either replace the coat or I phone the police.

Our school gives away the accumulated lost and found the last day before the Christmas break and the last day before summer. So something could be in lost and found for months or simply a day. They make a big deal out of the fact that it is coming and even spread out all the items in the lobby for review.

We label absolutely everything Dd could lose with laminated labels that are easy to see and read. The school still doesn’t bother to return items to her, but at least they are easy to identify when we go searching.

YANBU, I'd be fuming. She isn't allowed to do that.

However I agree with others that parent's evening probably isn't the best place to raise this. I'd get everything in email and perhaps speak to the head, or whoever you think is best.

Ridiculous policy, both of my schools used to put things on display in the hall/form room at the end of term. I assume unclaimed items were disposed of.

Yura your office policy is strange. I can understand clearing out of fridges with perishables but when I worked in an office, loads of people would travel in trainers and leave their smart shoes at work or leave a bag of work clothes and get changed if going out straight after. Some places I had a locker, most places I didn’t but cleaners were instructed never to touch any personal stuff left. If there was stuff that had been unclaimed for ages, we’d have a clear out 3/4 times a year but everyone was notified and had the opportunity to be reunited with their things.

Report it stolen and claim against the school's insurance. That'll learn them. So to speak

JFC I'm glad I don't work with Yura. I've forgotten things at work (cardigans, boots, shopping etc) plenty of times and I'd be extremely unhappy at them being thrown out just because I happened not to be in at 9am on Monday. I'd be careful with that policy if I were you, I can see someone going to the police because you've thrown away something valuable after, essentially, less than 24 hours (left at 5pm Friday, office shut over weekend etc)