Allegations about a teacher at school.

[Ccola]

A letter has been sent to all parents at my DD primary school. An allegation has been going around about a member of staff physically hurting a child in their care. It's been going around parent Whatsapp groups etc. The letter says this is not true and someone trying to cause trouble. How would the school know it's not true? and why would a rumour like this get started without reason? The people spreading the rumour are having to have a one to one chat chat with SLT and may be banned from the school premises and face legal action.

A lie can get around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on.

If it was true or if there was anything to investigate it would have been referred and investigated. These rumours and false allegations can wreck people's lives. Good on the school for dealing with the people spreading this rubbish.

I had (not particularly serious) allegations made about me by a parent with a vendetta. They could always be disproved because, for example, the incident allegedly happened when the children were in groups on a school trip and the child wasn't in my group. It was hugely stressful despite having the full support of the headteacher, for which I remain immensely grateful. I still don't know if the parent was delusional or just a trouble maker. The child bounced from school to school, as they often do. It is hopelessly naive to believe false allegations aren't made.

Poor teacher. Some parents are awful.

Often this can happen when schools try to enforce rules, there are a subset of people who think they are above the rules and kick off when these are imposed.
Our head keeps getting anonymous letters moaning about various things. She is on the gate every morning and very approachable, so anyone with genuine concerns can discuss with her.

Nearly every in of these types if allegations is due to either a family trying to deflect from concerns regarding their behaviour, or children with safeguarding issues at home using allegations against school staff as a kind of cry for help.

That's dreadful, it must be so awful to be caught up in this mess, poor teachers.

Why would a rumour like this get started without reason?

Because people of limited intelligence enjoy pretending to be "the one who knows something". With more sense and a justified complaint they'd have approached the school/governors/police direct, but presumably the attention they get on SM is more satisfying

Where the school can be certain whatever-it-is really didn't happen, I wish they'd come down on the instigators like a ton of bricks. Even negative attention might feed the inadequacy of such folk, but at least there's a chance it would stop this kind of stupidity

years ago a child made an allegation against a member of school staff, it was a serious allegation which was quickly found to be untrue however in the meantime the staff member couldn't face the shame of the allegation and committed suicide. I've a friend who has recently left teaching after being cleared of any wrongdoing following an allegation. Some parents can not cope with their children not being thought to be gods gift to the classroom so there's obviously something wrong with the teacher if their child isn't getting top marks, star of the week every week and the lead part in all performances.

Your school parent life has just begun, get used to this, disgruntled parents and mischievous kids make a lot of things up.

Beat me to it !

One boy I taught, came into school, went to a teaching block on an upper floor and was egged on to jump out of the window, which he did. He refused any first aid treatment, although he was limping, despite our best efforts. We called his mother who came, shouting at him. She took him to the GP and came back later, shouting at me. He had broken his leg and had told her that I had made him jump out of the window.

Fortunately, I had enough people who could prove that I was at the opposite end of the school at the time, but my career could have been ruined.

It's shocking what some kids come out with. The chances are the teacher had to restrain the pupil who was about to hit someone or break something. Child gets sent to SLT. Child fabricates story teacher hurt him/her (during the restrain). Child tells mum to counteract head or other SLT member calling mum in to talk about child's action. Mum decides to kick off and cause a stink. It is unfortunately quite common.

Because there are a lot of ignorant, shitty parents who live their lives gossiping on social media and repeating gossip on social media- it is a significant issue for a number of schools.

Some people can start a fight in an empty room, and go from drama to drama. Everyone is out to get them, and they’re always foghorning the usual #BEKIND/“champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends” rubbish on their Facebook posts. They would definitely have been right there with the parents shoving burgers through the school fence when Jamie Oliver tried to feed their angles a carrot.

I am also reminded of (for example) the Nicola Bulley threads that were rife on here at the time with people turning "detective".
Those people should feel thoroughly ashamed, and your comment applies to them too. On mn and beyond

Quite

Let us not forget that if these allegations are false the teacher should,with support from their union , report such false allegations to the appropriate authorities.
Lots of parents may be unaware of this.
A colleague of mine was accused of spitting at a pupil. Whilst she was on a two day moderation course.
Parents adamant their child was telling the truth despite evidence to the contrary.
The reason for the accusation was because the pupil had plagiarised a rather important part of their coursework and my colleague had informed the parents and the exam officer.
All the pupil had to do was re-submit their own work.
Parents refused to believe such a thing even after they were shown the coursework that included great swathes of text from Sparksnotes and York Notes. From the relevant websites with the hyperlinks.
It was a very uncomfortable meeting after we informed the parents that we were referring the case to my colleague's union because such spurious allegations can ruin a career.
It was only when the parents realised that cheating could,should and does lead to the other GSCE coursework being scrutinised that they had a 'very long chat' with their daughter.
She'd done the same with three other subjects.
Union reps involved with those colleagues too because of the false allegations.
Luckily , the spiteful pupils,parents and carers are few and far between in my experience,but when they do want to 'go for a teacher (especially with social media)they will and do.

Many years ago, when I was a teacher, I was accused of hitting a child. My SLT removed me straightaway from the classroom and I was sent to another part of the school whilst they investigated. I wasn't allowed my bag or phone etc and had to sit in a room for 2 hours while they talked to this child. I have never been so scared and had a full blown panic attack. I had not touched him.

He told SLT that I had punched and kicked him, he claimed that I had pushed him out of my classroom and he had hurt his leg all this in front of the rest of the class!. Luckily for me I had a TA full time who stated that I was no where near him, several of my class also said he was lying, he finally admitted I hadn't done it. He received no punishment such as being told how serious it was etc, and was really upset when I asked for him to be moved to another class.

He did this to another teacher a few years later again no consequences for his actions.its a very scary thing to have happen.

Also the Charlie Gard/Alfie Battersbee/Lucy Letby threads which instantly became infested with armchair paediatricians

Junior school mine went to apparently the head was arrested in front of everyone, and the police searched his office, which was now sealed with police tape. Apparently this was because he'd allowed his wife to (once) use the school hall for something she was doing without charging her.

Only thing was he was actually off with mental health issues (found out this through a friend years later) and I knew it hadn't happened, because on the day in question I'd gone in first thing as a volunteer and was told he was off ill... I'd been working outside his office most of the day.
When I pointed this out, I was frequently corrected and told I must have the wrong day/wrong office/wrong time etc.

Let us not forget that if these allegations are false the teacher should,with support from their union , report such false allegations to the appropriate authorities

This is true, @ladymalfoy45, but unfortunately some SLTs are rather too keen to "encourage" the accused not to do so, preferring instead to brush it under the carpet and to hell with the teacher who's still subject to a whispering campaign

This is precisely why my headteacher ex would never under any circumstances have worked in a secondary school - he wouldn't even shower naked at the gym, FGS, just in case some pupil was also there and reported that "they'd seen Mr Puzzled's willy"
At least in primary the accusations are most often about hitting and shouting, but get a disgruntled teenage girl and they can easily be something even worse - and very hard to disprove

Because people can hide behind a keyboard?

Because some people are thick enough not to know the difference between a paedophile and a paediatrician? (and are the sort of people that would put 2 and 2 together and get very much the wrong end of the stick).

Innocent until proven guilty. If the school had ANY doubt the teacher would not be in school!

Last Yr a mum in my son's year started talking about how horrible and strict the class teacher was. So many agreed with her. She talked about how she has sometimes approached him and told him off for punishing the class (he did tell them they will.moss a fun activity for being naughty. They missed it that day but had it later. This was Yr 1). I said I didn't realise this I thought he was a good teacher and very nurturing. Strict when. He needs to be but age appropriate and fair. I went home and discussed with dh as I was confused and am terrible at reading between lines. Thought I missed something. Well, the next week same mum was gushing about how wonderful this teacher is. How nurturing. Not everyone fro. The week before was there but you see, she coloured people's views. The kids jave now transitioned to Yr 2 and most of them are missing this teacher so much. So yeah, some people are rumour sluts. I have seen it in all walks of life and Social media especially whatsapp seems to nurture these people. They have an audience.

If there are real concerns, follow appropriate channels

When I was teaching in a primary school two separate allegations of physical violence were made by two pupils. On both occasions it was very swiftly established that the teachers were not actually on the premises. The children concerned just admitted they’d made it up, the parents assumed everything would go back to normal. The teachers concerned decided never to teach again.