To get some money towards Sons Glasses

[ellebelli]

My Son is 15, He has recently finished with his Girlfriend, there was some issue with her friends not being keen on him and wanting her to end it, I think there was a lot of jealousy on both sides.
They all go to the same school.
On Tuesday Son came home from School upset that his X GF Friends had pinched his glasses off him and ran into the Girls Toilets.
They told him they had bent the frames and put them in the Sani bin, Son did not go and try to get them back( said he couldn't go into the Girls Loos, nor did he tell a Teacher)
My Partner( who tends to deal with all the School stuff) Emailed his Head of Year to let her know what had happened.
We heard nothing back-So later in the Afternoon on Weds he Emailed again but directly to the Head this time, She did reply and asked which Toilet block it was...We have heard nothing since..
I know it will take awhile to speak to the Girls involved etc.
If we could get the Glasses back, even if the frames are damaged could still use the lenses and just get new frames..
Meanwhile my Son is struggling in lessons without his Glasses.
No one has spoken to him about it.
Are we really going to have to buy new glasses for him?? He has only had the damn things for a few weeks!!!!!
What would other parents do in this situation?

I'd go in there in person, kick up a huge stink and want their parents contacted for a meeting to explain and to pay for the new pair!

Thank you-That is my thinking too, but wondered if that was OTT?

I wonder why he didn't tell an adult straight away, or why you emailed rather than making a phone call. Because I think it's very likely they will be gone by now. The school can investigate with the girls concerned but can't compel them or their parents to pay for them. And I'd be prepared to hear them justify what they did, probably by accusing your son of saying or doing something unpleasant.

Invoice the school. There isn’t anything that he could have said or done that would justify stealing someone’s glasses.

What's happened to your son is terrible and school should be stepping in.

But aren't children's glasses free anyway? He should be able to get a replacement pair for free.

He needs glasses to see and engage in school so you do need to arrange a replacement asap.

Invoice the school? Hardly their fault it happened or that he didn't tell anyone.

I'm not saying he deserved it. I'm saying the girls will come out fighting and it might not make for pleasant hearing. I'm a teacher and am just basing it on my own experiences.

Absolutely complain to the school. There certainly does need to be consequences for the girls involved. But nobody will be paying for the glasses unless one of their parents is very generous indeed.

I’d ask the school if they have a way to recover the money from the parents given the theft happened on school site. Assuming that the school can’t help, I’d report the girls to the police for theft and criminal damage. Let them explain to the police and yheir parents how hilarious they are.

And buy some more glasses, this pair are gone. The sanitary bins may have been emptied by now, but even if you could get them back and clean and repair them (which is impossible but just for the sake of argument) would you really ask him to wear them to secondary school with all this class knowing where they’ve been?

And congrats to your son for dumping this psycho.

I would of already went into school instead of just leaving it as san bins are emptied regularly and I would of already bought him a new set of glasses.

Definitely speak to the school again!!

Even if you could get the glasses back and use the lenses would your son be comfortable wearing them? I know my kids wouldn't be and neither would I.

The glasses should be free on the NHS anyway.

You can't ask a secondary school child to wear glasses that have been recovered from a sanitary bin.

Nor can you invoice the school.

You can expect a reply to your contact. The school should have replied quickly to the emails.

I would take this as far as necessary, you are not being OTT. I would ask for an appointment with the head and if they continue to ignore you go down there physically.

I would definitely consider reporting it to the police if you don't feel as if the school was dealing with the situation. If this happened to you at work what would you do?

@Thewindwhispers

I’d ask the school if they have a way to recover the money from the parents given the theft happened on school site. Assuming that the school can’t help, I’d report the girls to the police for theft and criminal damage. Let them explain to the police and yheir parents how hilarious they are.

And buy some more glasses, this pair are gone. The sanitary bins may have been emptied by now, but even if you could get them back and clean and repair them (which is impossible but just for the sake of argument) would you really ask him to wear them to secondary school with all this class knowing where they’ve been?

And congrats to your son for dumping this psycho.

All the girls will deny it and say they don’t know what he’s talking about. It’s his word against theirs. He didn’t tell a teacher when it happened which would of been the appropriate thing to do.

"And congrats to your son for dumping this psycho."

I don't think it was his ex. It was her friends.

Please don’t make him wear them after they’ve been in the sanitary bin 🤮 As for recovering monies, good luck with that. Personally, I’d pay it (grudgingly) I actually once had to buy a teacher a £130 coat after DS damaged it by getting glue on it. Some people are decent you know. Other than that, if you don’t get anywhere, report the girls to the police. It’ll serve them right. If you’re feeling nice give them 24 hours notice of intent but if not, do it right away.

This is really shocking and is bullying. I’d be on the phone to the head tomorrow to outline the situation and asking them to how they intend to deal with it.
Children that age should know better. Bottom line it’s theft and I’d report it to the police personally.
And not all glasses are free. The lenses in my eldest glasses cost £270 so i wouldn’t be happy about having to fork out for that again through no fault of his own.

Parents should pay for a new pair. Saying this as a parent who paid for much younger child's mad moment.

When we went to choose the Glasses ,the free ones were plastic frames which he hated and not the style he wanted either so we had to pay-and will again.
Thanks for all the replies, We will go and get him some new ones but I do feel the school could have been a little better in letting us know what has gone on.
I know the girls will twist it around and it cannot be proven they did damage the glasses which are probably long gone by now.
Just annoyed School ignored the first email, but you are right partner should have rung(or I should have-He is just better at this sort of thing than me)

@ellebelli the girls might twist it round but definitely get it properly logged with the school. I doubt this is the first thing they’ve done to someone in school.

Thanks again-Going to ring the head in the morning.

If the school can find them and they're salvageable then all they need is a wash and they'll be fine to wear. He's not going to be eating them.

I suspect if they've been bent and shoved in a bin though they'll be beyond repair.

Absolutely the girls should pay, their parents should be told and they should be punished at school for the damage they've caused.

But aren't children's glasses free anyway? He should be able to get a replacement pair for free.

Nope, my ds15 got glasses a couple of weeks ago and they charged us for the frames, you get some sort of "voucher" for the lenses (we didn't see anything, just told that we qualified for free lenses under nhs voucher scheme)

Your son should have spoken up at the time. Don't really see why school are getting the blame, they can't do anything about it days later.

I'd politely ask the head teacher if the glasses were recovered, otherwise you will make a police complaint naming the thief who stole them. Snatching his glasses from his face may incur a charge of assault.

Were both emails sent in the same day? I was a head of year of a while and sometimes had a full day teaching timetable, as well as after school revision or parent meetings - it wouldn’t be unheard of for me not to be able to respond to an email till after 5pm!

Tbh if they did put them in the san bin either it's been emptied or whose job is it to look through that?

This is so poor by school. I'd have driven there immediately on the day and pulled apart the sanitary bin.