Is this the mother of all calling out - Katherine Birbalsingh

[DramaFatigue]

Katherine Birbalsingh has done the mother of all calling out and I can't help but sit here with my jaw on the kitchen table in awe.

She has written a 4-page open letter to Sir Kerr Starmer calling out Jess Phillip's behaviour online. Whilst I don't always agree with KB's methods of the school she runs, I do think that Jess Phillips behaviour towards her is shocking and unbefitting of someone who could be running the country. JP should resign TBH.

https://news.sky.com/story/headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-brands-labour-mp-jess-phillips-social-media-posts-racist-and-bullying-12913139

Probably not.

The truth inconveniences a lot of people.

For a headmistress her relationship with facts and truth is concerning.

This.

I wonder what JP will do?

Will she sue for libel - especially given all the facts that are now coming out about the letter?

Will the school and Governors take action? Bringing the school into disrepute?

And aren't there professional standards for teachers?

I’m pretty sure that you have some say in which school your DC goes to, and no one is forced to go to KB’s school.

Some children thrive in a disciplined environment. Mine do. My eldest is a straight “9” GCSE student, predicted all A*s at A’level. They have a job, set up their own business, got a partner and gave lots of friends. They volunteer and hold positions of responsibility at school. Hardly someone who isn’t going to hack it in the real world.

At least KB is doing something productive for underprivileged kids. Some of you are also really naive. I’ve visited Russell Group and Oxbridge Unis lately and was shocked at the lack of diversity looking around. I think it takes something hardcore like KB’s approach to smash through those barriers and change this. I’m sure those students she’s helped get to those places appreciate concern over struct rules and discipline but changing their set up
would possibly be good intentions misguided.

Any comments on the actual OP now and the recent discoveries about the lies and mistakes in the public letter she sent calling JP racist?

And she clearly undermines the work she has done with her attitude towards "the truth".

Her approach to education is one thing.
Her approach to how she handles being called out and being caught in lies is another.

She’s always had a slightly complicated relationship with truth.

Ah, the standard lazy trope - "I'm going to make a wild allegation unsubstantiated by evidence, and when challenged on it will airily tell the challenger to do the research I couldn't be bothered to do."

She took five weeks to draft the letter and now hides behind "Maybe the letter isn't perfect"? I wonder how she would react to that excuse from her pupils?

There’s a lot of that round here. Infuriating, isn’t it?

She's not very bright is she?

Do we know if she ever tells white women or even men to fuck off? If she says it a lot it isn't much of a big deal, if she's only ever said it to Diane Abbott then yes it is a big deal.

Well, here's a couple of examples of Jess Phillips effectively telling various people to fuck off

https://twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1108487644730793985?lang=en-GB

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/labour-mp-jess-phillips-tells-theresa-may-and-phillip-hammond-to-f-your-little-extras-as-son-s-school-prepares-to-close-early-on-fridays-to-save-cash-a4083576.html

I'm pretty sure I've heard her say it on HIGNFY too.

Does anyone seriously believe she doesn't use that term freely with white people, particularly white Tories?

Wow, so do all the DC at your child's school do as well as your eldest? That's really impressive if so.

So JP telling someone to fuck off is clearly not racist. I'm more of Diane Abbott's generation and I don't say it as back in my youth it wasn't the done thing where I lived, younger people seem to use it frequently so it might not seem much of an issue to JP but it could to DA or TM.

Yes families would have put it as one of their choices on their secondary application form; though it may not have been their first choice.

Regarding underprivileged kids, that may be JB’s spin but she has no idea how underprivileged or otherwise her next cohort will be as it is just the kids who come through the allocation process.

I love the way she says the school serves a disadvantaged community in the inner city in Wembley. Wembley Park is a leafy suburb surrounded by other leafy suburbs! As entry as by random allocation within a 5 mile radius, her pupils could come from a huge geographical area; not a community at all.

And as for sending pupils to top universities, of course they do. But entrance to the Michaela 6th form is more selective than entrance to 6th form of the super selective Birmingham Grammar School that JP attended.

I wonder how KB's staff and pupils are feeling today in terms of respect for their headteacher, knowing she's spent the weekend making a tit of herself all over twitter.

I think they must be used to it.

One of the best ways to improve your social media visibility is to pick a public fight with someone who has more followers and that is what KB is doing here.

She didn’t say it that is the point

What was the point of this claim. That she put DA in her place ?

as I said before JP likes to play to a crowd she has always been like that it’s not being outspoken but she hides behind this. JP knows that people want to hear and she is well aware of the distain towards DA and played into that and it wasn’t a claim she only made once she milked it

High profile right wing commentator (KB is more of a media personality than a teacher these days) picks fight with popular Labour MP in run up to election. Claims are quickly discredited. Familiar and depressing story.
YABU for feeding the beast.

Phillips aimed criticism at KB first didn’t she?

I’m pretty sure that you have some say in which school your DC goes to, and no one is forced to go to KB’s school.

Parents get an illusion of choice, and pupils may get a place there who didn't really want it. You don't really get a say in it.

Michaela is by all accounts a small school, it has 698 pupils on it's roll, spread evenly that is 100 pupils a year. (7-13) My DC's school has 300 a year (years 7-11 only). It is much easier to implement some strategies on a smaller scale, that just won't work with larger numbers.

As for it being all deprived pupils, it has 23% eligible for free school meals, compare that to one of my local schools which has 43%, my children's school has 29%.

So she's racist because she didn't swear at DA? So what if she said "go away" in one way or another. It just seems a non issue and if it the worst thing she's done I'd say she hasn't done much wrong.

I didn't know that about the sixth form. The school JP attended is very very hard to get into. I know women/girls who have attended and generally if parents are offered a place there or an expensive private school they will go for the grammar as it is considered very desirable to go there.