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.

I think it’s a mixture of misunderstanding, tone and context.
The original OP was shocked ( understandable)
Her tone was somewhat hyperbolic ( again understandable in the circs)
Some posters then took issue with her for implying that the school had lost the moral high ground.( the loss of “moral high ground” was poorly phrased. It might be better to say there has been a loss of trust because of the incident)

some posters were scornful and mocking in tone which was unhelpful but if that is standard MN then ok… but perhaps also ok to call it out?

Also - I do agree that secondary school children are not likely to follow the example of this teacher and think it’s ok to attack women.
And I do agree it can happen anywhere.
Im just not sure why posters are attacking the OP

I'm a teacher and I think that's an excellent response. I also think this awful case reminds us that we - teachers and other professionals - need to be vigilant at all times: but, of course, hindsight is 20/20, eh?

I totally agree with this.

The idea that teachers are infallible and should be trusted at all costs is a scary one. They're just people. They're not special.

I feel like I am reading a different thread to the one here. Such hyperbole. ‘Shouted down’. ‘Braying bunch of teachers’. ‘Silenced’ !!

MNHQ tells me that poster has been banned so hopefully the goading of teachers will be a bit less obviously hyperbolic from now on.

Well in my DDs primary school I know the following about some of the teachers

One has a criminal record which they revived in the last 5 years while working for the school. Do I think they should be teaching, yes, other than what they did which was nothing to do with the school they are a brilliant teacher, one I respect a lot. What they did involved exceptional circumstances that had nothing to do with their ability to be a good influence on the children at the school

One was a horrible school bully, would physically beat up their victims including parents on the children they now teach (small town) Do I think they should be a teacher? I’ve never seen anything to suggest they shouldn’t. They have never shown any signs of bullying the children. They are a favourite at the school and obviously focused on a leadership role. I personally was stand offish when I learnt about their past, but now I can’t say they have never given me any reason not to trust them.

One has had severe mental health issues, cutting and attempted suicide in the past, actually I know another teacher at another school who was similar. Again this teacher has never shown any signs they can’t be a great teacher, she is another favourite with the children and with me personally, she’s taught all 3 of my DDs and they all loved her. I think it would be a great loss to the school if she left.

As it’s a small town where generations of the same families go through the school, many parents grew up with some of these teachers, they know their pasts and secrets. What they have done in their personal life’s dose not mean they can’t be good teachers or even good and positive role models to the children they teach. The only time I’ve heard negatives comments was from someone new to the area who commented on the criminal record, she soon realised most if not all parents know about it and don’t care because the teacher is a good teacher.

I’m confused by what extra screening can be done to weed out criminal teachers before they committed the crime????

Agree. Am I the only one who is totally bewildered by what the OP IS trying to say here? It seems to keep changing. And what relevance does the ex-partner have? Ok, ex-partner was a teacher, but could have been a police officer, a lawyer, a lorry driver, office worker or any number of other occupations. Sadly, these things happen and by the law of averages the perpetrators will sometimes be teachers, sometimes lawyers, etc. etc. And I'm afraid it does seem to imply that what's happened is somehow a poor reflection on the other teachers and the school itself - although OP's now telling us it doesn't mean that. But the original post conveys something different.

For blaming the school and other teachers for what happened.

Good grief.

I've never heard of individual detention with teacher and pupil. Our detentions dre recorded and anyone with a detention goes to a central classroom .
It has been like this for many yrs and is to protect the staff as much as the kids.

Maybe teach your child not to be a ‘lippy kid’. You are being totally unreasonable. And drama-seeking.

Where on earth are you reading that? Nobody has excused attempted murder. And how do you know who (if anyone) is a teacher on here anyway? Saying there may be mental health issues isn’t excusing attempted murder - it’s attempting to explain it.
I find it a bit disturbing that you (and several others) don’t understand t(e difference.

Teenagers mustn't be lippy but snapping and nearly murdering someone is something that could happen to any adult.

Noone has said this except you.

teachers are human and make mistakes too. My DC were taught by someone who ended up banned from teaching. He sadly took his own life as couldn't live with his actions

'I was banned from teaching for helping my pupils cheat' - BBC News

You probably thought this sounded clever, but it doesn't really make any sense. What does one have to with the other?

And yes, pretty much anyone is capable of killing in theory - that's not the same as saying it's fine to go around butchering your partner. People just don't think someone employed as a teacher is divinely immune from being violent or doing immoral things.

I hope this isn't too outing but here goes.

I know a lot of recreational and party drug users, fine, I'm partial myself on occasion. Anyway as we got older our large group diverged a lot. 3 of the guys went on to become teachers, I don't speak to them much anymore but I happen to know for a fact that one is an alcoholic with severe dependency who has been told by the doctors that he has irriversably damaged his organs. He's also quite aggressive. The second is a ketamine addict and takes it daily. The third one is just a peice of shit.

They all manage to put on a face and get through the day pretending to be something they are not. It's not my business so I stay clear of them, but I wouldn't trust them to look after a tamagochi so it's a miracle there hasn't been an incident yet.

'These people'?!!

You've given exactly two examples, OP. You don't get to judge an entire profession on that any more than teacher training establishments can see into the future and know if a person will go on to do something violent!

The best anyone can do is Police checks etc and they are done in every case.

@Anotherparkingthread if you had a concern about them and their behaviour you can contact the relevant schools

It’s bloody disturbing that there are teachers EXCUSING attempted murder.

What's disturbing is that someone with even a modicum of intelligence can draw that conclusion from this thread!

Well, no. In a state school the person will have a degree, a post graduate qualification and a DBS. And they’ll be heavily monitored.

Seriously attempted murder being minimised again as “make mistakes”.

Attempted murder is not a mistake.