Teacher arrested for attempted murder

[Bottomofthebarrel]

This week a teacher at my DD’s secondary school was arrested for attempted murder. He stabbed a woman in the head and neck in broad daylight, and I believe he was only unsuccessful in killing her because other people intervened. She is in a critical condition in hospital, so he could be looking at a murder charge. This has all been in the news, including the BBC.

This man was teaching my own child until very recently. She was given an after school detention by him for being very slightly late to his lesson, and the detention was just him and her sat in a room. That sends shivers down my spine now. I can’t get the whole thing out of my head.

This must be so disturbing for all the kids at the school. I feel that the school are potentially going to struggle more with behaviour control from now on - this man was employed as one of their role models so I can’t help but feel they’ve lost the moral high ground. Not to mention the effect on those who are in their exam years and are now minus a subject teacher.

How the fuck does someone like that become a teacher? I must say in the last 9 years since my DC started secondary, I’ve come across a few - all of them male - teachers who have got my back up and seem to be definite ‘power tripping know it all’ types, and not particularly bright to boot. There’s another male teacher in another local school who was in the news, having to pay £200,000 damages to his neighbour after a childish bullying campaign which went on for years.

Is this the best we can do? I get teaching isn’t the most attractive profession, but it actually terrifies me that these people are supposed to be guiding and leading our children, sometimes on a one to one basis. My worry is that with the current shortage of teachers, and desperation to fill vacancies, the standards are going to sink even lower.

This isn’t a general teacher bashing thread, there are many truly wonderful ones out there, and I know it’s an incredibly difficult job. Just feeling very shaken by what has happened this week. My DD really didn’t like this man and I assumed it was her being a stroppy teen, now I feel awful for not taking her seriously.

Murder is generally considered unacceptable behaviour isn't it? 😂

Urgh, the classic ‘ArE yOu OkAy?’ Attempt at belittling someone’s more than acceptable argument.

You don’t have an argument. You have conflated & for whatever reason struggled to comprehend my posts. How does one argue with that?

Yes, I think it is. As I have made very clear, I think it’s the wrong thing to do at this stage. I bet when other murders take place you don’t go around demanding the construction industry or that bakers perform stricter DVS checks?

Where have I said the school should perform stricter checks?

An inquiry is a must. But right now? No. End of. Just no.

Where have I said anything about an inquiry?

The parents have nothing to demand of the school at this stage except that the school cooperates with the police and then I believe they should offer support to students who need it. But they don’t need to answer to any sort of suggestions of blame.

Where have I said the school is to blame.

What I did say was I would expect the school to have some form of communication & dialogue with their community because of the circumstances & it wasn’t relevant that the murder was on site or not. And I said I would expect parents to have all sorts of questions.

But fair enough you think that if a teacher is arrested & charged with a crime then there should be zero comms from the school & disagree with me.

I’m not responding to you now, I’m done with repeating myself and you still not listening.

I bet this happens a lot 😆

Cool, so being rude is what you’re now resorting to. Such a strong rebuttal, really supports you repeating your same point of ‘but they have a right to’. .How infantile. I stand by everything I’ve said, the demand for blame is unwarranted.

It doesn’t break talk guidelines. I just don’t think the murder of babies is something to be sarcastic and acerbic about.

The point isn’t whether one man or woman is representative of a profession.

The point is that because of that profession, they are able to do things that they wouldn’t otherwise have done. LL wouldn’t have had access to babies; the girls in Soham would not have gone into the house of a stranger.

It is easy to be flippant and sarky when your child came home.

Also at no point did I say they don’t have to communicate. I said they did.
i hope you got the argument you were looking for but I won’t be agreeing with you that such questions are appropriate at this stage.

Exactly this. I expect his colleagues are as shocked as everyone else.

They do have an argument. A super clear one. You just keep doing all the low blow, goady replies of someone not interested in engaging but simply “winning”. “Why are you so upset/are you okay” shit that ruins intelligent debates.

The point was if a teacher is found out to be a peadophile it is immediately terrifying to a parent as their crime is related to children. Children they have constant, uninterrupted access to. “Have they committed crimes at work?” is a very reasonable question.

If a teacher is found to be a domestic abuser it is AWFUL. But the odds of them having committed a crime on children is less. Not 0, which is why is understandable to feel unsettled, but children aren’t their most likely target.

Doesn’t mean a parent wouldn’t be wanting a thorough investigation.

It’s not minimising. It’s a fact.

But, I suspect logic isn’t what you’re after. The joys of MN! 🤣

Probably because it comes from the top, and the culture of bullying is replicated all the way down. That's the point I was trying to make.

As your name suggests, I think you are ‘scraping’ @Bottomofthebarrel, this has got nothing to do with ‘a moral high ground’ get a grip 🙄

Haven't read the full thread, but I thought detentions were held in a particular room with all pupils who received a detention, not separately with just one teacher and one pupil in a classroom. I thought this was introduced ages ago to safeguard teachers and pupils.

Cool, so being rude is what you’re now resorting to. Such a strong rebuttal, really supports you repeating your same point of ‘but they have a right to’. . I stand by everything I’ve said, the demand for blame is unwarranted.

So you are still reiterating then?

And you still aren’t comprehending.

It doesn’t matter if the parents are right or wrong to have questions the fact is they are going to have questions. You have to acknowledge that hence the need for communication.

Absolutely horrific but just like your next door neighbour can turn out to be a serial killer , teachers are just people. We don't expect people to do these things. No one is going to turn up to an interview and admit they fantasise about stabbing someone.

Which is what I’ve said, repeatedly. But what I’ve said is, AT THIS TIME, there’s no need to start looking to blame potentially innocent people. The same thing I have said over and over again you are being deliberately obtuse. I have said repeatedly that after the questioning has happened then might be the time to start asking the school about their role. I have also said that yes the school need to be offering support to the students whether they do this is counselling, whether they do this with the statement whether they do this with an assembly is up to them, I have said yes they need to be offering support. Do you wanna call that communication you call it communication I’m calling it support. I have said this repeatedly what I have said is that it is not okay to start blaming the school or the teachers are trying to find a reason why they are responsible

If a teacher is found to be a domestic abuser it is AWFUL. But the odds of them having committed a crime on children is less. Not 0, which is why is understandable to feel unsettled, but children aren’t their most likely target.

@SaladIsShitAndWeAllKnowIt Ive not said children were the target & the OPs dd was in danger?

Doesn’t mean a parent wouldn’t be wanting a thorough investigation.

I said parents are going to have questions & expect communication with the school.

But, I suspect logic isn’t what you’re after

I certainly won’t find it on this thread! People can’t even read! 😆

Do you assume all violent men who attack women must be having a nervous breakdown? Sorry, but this comes over to me as really minimising yet another incidence of male violence against women.

Teachers do not have power though! So I suppose those who think teachers have power would assume that but they do not.

Well, not in the real world they don't, but they are considered authority figures in schools and, as unsavoury as it is, lots of abusive people get off on controlling people who are weaker and smaller than they are.

Children are, for the most part, conditioned to listen to their teachers and respect them.

How ironic your last sentence is

Which is what I’ve said, repeatedly. But what I’ve said is, AT THIS TIME, there’s no need to start looking to blame potentially innocent people

Where did I say it’s ok to blame innocent people? You accused me of wanting a witch hunt, where did I say that?

How ironic your last sentence is

For you? Incredibly so..

after i left, one of my old teachers was arrested for sex with a minor, his current gf was only 18 and 'everyone knew' they'd been together years. (school rumour mill was rife in other words)

Nothing surprised the others at the school, there had LONG been rumours about this teacher, and how he perved on the female students in the PE changing rooms, or looked up their netball skirts..etc.

Didn't make any of the lads go wild with copying him though.. we all thought he was gross.

There were others who had lesbian relationships, the HT was an alcoholic and everyone used to joke about the flask in his desk drawer. There was even one who was approaching retirement who was rumoured to be a martial arts expert who'd dangled a kid out the top floor of one of the buildings in the early years of his career at the school.

Most of it was absolutely crap, but kids are surprisingly quick to cotton on to anything 'weird' about teachers, so the ones caught are rarely considered role models by them.

You are understandably shocked, but right now you and the other parents need to rally round the school and the kids and support them.

It must be awful when someone in a position of responsibility, who you have trusted, is accused of a crime.

There are wrong uns in all professions. I've worked for 45 years in a profession that has an outlet in all major towns and cities and I could tell you stories that would straighten pubic hair!

I know of four that should be in jail from stuff i have directly witnessed and these are people that the public trust on a daily basis. At least 50% of what teachers do is in the public gaze. What goes on behind closed doors in professions and with professional people is beyond shocking.

I could tell you stories that would straighten pubic hair!

what a surprisingly gross turn of phrase….