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

Had JP just called out the photo, this wouldn't be an issue. Why she then thought it necessary to insinuate that children at KB's school were not adequately safeguarded on the basis of a poorly judged Twitter tribute is the issue.

I'm a litle surprised that KB is talking about racism, but I can see her line of argument that she feels she comes in for a lot of additional flack for being a black woman with right-leaning politcal views. She clearly thinks that JP was looking for any excuse to give her a kicking.

If they follow the example of their head, they'll be going off on one the moment somebody says 'you're wrong'.

KB got a lot of flack for posting that picture. When it was pointed out she took it down. JP could have taken the high ground and posted “I’m sure you didn’t mean this but…” instead she repeatedly tweeted claiming KB was endorsing DV and called her professional conduct into question and implied her school was unsafe. It was an outrageous leap.

left leaning people are often very critical of black and brown people who they don’t think have the correct opinions are aren’t sufficiently grateful to white left leaning people. In the absence of another explanation for why JP went so viciously and so over the top for a black women, this seems a good explanation. If she dislikes her for another, justifiable, reason I’d love to hear it.

the letter is far too long.

I think JP might be right about that!

Like hell she did. She wanged on about it being a gif and she didn't understand gifs - there was no apology. Just a counter attack on those objecting (there were many, not just Philips) and the stupidity of those objecting.

Plenty of people have challenged her educational methods and professionalism - the total control approach, the squeezing out of "problems" to other schools and the attitudes to families in hardship, punishing kids for having parents unable to pay for compulsory extras etc.

For a headteacher she has a remarkable amount of time to spend as a shock jock on social media and going around making political speeches. None of the local heads round here seem to have the time to run a side hustle in speaking engagement and social media influencing.

I dont know the exact stats but I thought very large numbers of British asians were Tory/generally not left wing. I dont think that is particularly unknown is it?

Why all the faux consternation that she has to point that out all the time

To be honest I would much rather KB and JP spent more time doing their actual jobs than spending time on social media.

Both of them chase the limelight at the expense of their students (KB) /constituents (JP).

Agree with this. Someone being childish on SM

Is this the letter where KB has mis-read one of JP's tweets and called her out for criticising Asians when JP actually was saying someone wasn't Aslan the lion?

I actually agree with JP about safeguarding at the school.

They control the kids through fear. They cannot make mistakes with punishment are are taught to accept this. It actually can lead to people thinking DV is acceptable because they think all opinions and actions they don't like are punishable.

KP school doesn't allow for pupils to grow up with an opinion, to make mistakes or even take part in sport outside of school as they are so strict with hours and detentions.

I know some like the ethos and if you think growing yes men (and woman) who will work for a boss without questioning the status quo then you'll like it. You'll aspire to send your kids into this environment. If you think KP is right that her school is the only way your child will keep out of a gang you'll aspire to send your kid there.

I disagree with the culture and I fear for the future of ex pupils as they don't learn to socialise or communicate effectively - they just learn to say "yes Miss and no miss (or sir)" and do as they are told.

I wonder if she thinks black/brown men should get away with beating women up? Jess Phillips is a champion in the fight against DV and I don't blame her for being shocked about the reference to "good times." I don't know what happened after that.

I think I'm with the headteacher here. Fine to criticise the inclusion of IT in the photograph, but if JP then used it to imply the headteacher was a safeguarding concern, then the headteacher is absolutely right to challenge this publicly. She couldn't allow a professional slur to just slide.

Politicians shouldn't be using their power to settle personal scores or take cheap shots at people because their politics are different and they don't vote the way the politician believes they should. That's where the racism comes in - the head teacher says that left wing politicians think that black people automatically owe the left wing their support and don't take it well if black people take a different view.

The head teacher also says that JP doesn't know her, has never visited the school and it isn't even in her constituency. So if her competency has been questioned, then at best that's overstepping and at worst is an abuse of power.

@Onegroupcard
I've been watching another thread about appalling behaviour in schools where teachers and children are routinely bullied - eg a child getting up during a lesson, marching over to another pupil and sitting down hard on his arm. When the teacher told him off, he flung a chair at her and asked "What's your problem?". The number of posters in despair at the behaviour in their children's schools is shocking. You may not like / agree with KB's approach to teaching and behaviour, but she doesn't have this problem in her school - in fact, she has parents queuing up to get their children a place there and she has children from this inner city school regularly getting places in Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities. She demands good behaviour from children with impoverished and broken backgrounds. Personally, I feel her approach should be adopted by all schools.

On a separate issue, I don't know much about KB but there are processes in place to ensure schools are safe/well run etc and if there are genuine concerns about the ethos, there are appropriate channels to go through for investigation. None of which are twitter.

That's where the racism comes in - the head teacher says that left wing politicians think that black people automatically owe the left wing their support and don't take it well if black people take a different view

Isn't that assuming things about a group of people and the way they think? Assuming that a group of people think one way and generalising about a group?

Its not an inner city school - not remotely. Its in the suburbs. The comprehensives in that area all have a mix of affluent and poor and send kids to good universities.

Struggling kids are exited to other local schools who have to pick up the slack, the poorest kids are "othered" and isolated if their parents can't afford some of the compulsory elements and payment models which are optional in most schools.

Kids throwing chairs at teachers is not an everyday experience in schools. Lets not pretend it is. Total control models of education don't teach children to behave or to think for themselves, they teach compliance and acceptance of control.

yes. This is critical info missing from other posts. KB is calling out JP as racist for apparently saying Asians couldn’t be right wing because she misread a tweet in which JP referred to conservative MPs not being Aslan the lion!

Would this have happened if the Head Teacher was not black?

I know this is the same argument people use when people say something is not sexist or racist - how does someone know if something would not have happened if the person involved was not female or was not black?

JP cares about safeguarding, domestic violence, VAWG. She is a passionate campaigner.

Would she have done the same if it had been a white Head Teacher doing the same?

Total control models of education don't teach children to behave or to think for themselves, they teach compliance and acceptance of control.

This in spades.

How does someone learn to be safe as an adult with safe boundaries if they are taught total control is normal in their formative years?

I work with some very deprived pupils in terms of attachment. I never teach them to behave. I teach them to like themselves enough to have some self respect for themselves and pursue their dreams.

A pupil who believes in themselves to achieve alone will go far.

One that's told they have no self control and need to be controlled will suffer in the long term one way or another.

Philips basically said on the evidence of a tweet that her school was shit and that she had no effective safeguarding eg bullying, abuse, racism, sexism goes unpunished at that school according to Philips on the basis of a single tweet. Id call her out on it too. Politicians in this country need to up their game - do we have any competent politicians at all?

How can it be "the mother of all calling out" when most people in this country won't even know or have heard of who both of these people are, OP? I think you're getting a bit carried away here!

This

JP was right to call her out on it.

KB has simply made herself look foolish and would appear to be more concerned with her media status than the welfare of her pupils.

KB is a professional controversy merchant and that is how she made her name in the first place. She’s a Julia Hartley Brewer or Katie Hopkins type. It’s a grift. Anyone getting sucked into anything she does online is a fool.

Jess Philips messages here were incredibly rude and unnecessary. ‘That head teacher woman’? So disrespectful. And all that hold the line we will win crap? Of course KB doesn’t advocate domestic violence, what a ridiculous suggestion. You may not support her maverick educational ways (although how can you, when you see the results?) or her manner or her audacity to go to a Tory event, but she has single-handedly provided an inner city community with an outstanding education and, with it, hope of breaking the cycle of social deprivation. Social deprivation and domestic violence can often go hand in hand. Jess Philips should be applauding her not ripping her down. I’m so disappointed in her as I have always thought Jess was a great labour voice.

KB’s letter is long but she’s bang on in sentiment and clearly enraged. I hope JP is made to publicly apologise. This Twitter stuff is ridiculous; JP needs to stop tweeting and get on with the real work for her constituents and leave outstanding headteachers alone.

*how can you not