Director of Education privately educates their children

[Thattennis]

Recently I met our local councils director of education through a social event. He has 2 children who are primary aged and I know these children are privately educated and his wife also works at this private school. I do know he has worked within several of the schools in our council and he does have a good reputation if a little under experienced/young. His children would have started school after he took on the role.

However something about the director of education choosing to privately educate his own children doesn’t fully sit well with me. If he is supposed to be championing the system for our children then it reads bad to me that he doesn’t even believe in the system enough to place his own children in it? Our council area is massively mixed with some wealthier areas but also an abundance of council estates and economically deprived rural areas. The entire council only has one private school and it’s not particularly large.

AIBU to feel a little uncomfortable that the director of education doesn’t believe in the schools he is responsible for enough to place his own children in them?

Your reasoning seems to be along the lines of...someone works in quality control at Lidl, therefore there is something wrong with Lidl if they shop elsewhere?

And if the chef who works at a steak restaurant is a pescatarian so doesn't eat the food they cook, this must be attributed to a lack of confidence in the food?

People are allowed to choose where they spent their money.

You're equating steak to childrens education?

I don't think you are being unreasonable to feel as you do, but it comes down to whether or not he is good at his job.

It may be private schooling is a non-negotiable for his wife, that his kids have additional needs, or the state schools he could get into really were shite. Or it may just be he wants to do whatever he thinks is best for his kids.

Of course. Why is this surprising? Not many people wouldn’t, if they could afford it.

Well not especially - plenty of people teach in tricky state schools, but make sure their kids go to better performing ones. It's not a uniquely state v private situation.

In the last Borough I worked in the Director of Education lived 120 miles away, wfh most of the time and had no intention of moving.

Even on £100k+ salary it was only filled at the 3rd round of recruitment.

What’s wrong with that? If you don’t believe private is better then going state shouldn’t bother you as you are making the better choice?

I’ve never heard of NHS staff getting private healthcare as a perk. Where is this?
Hospital managers maybe?
GMC provide it for their employees though.

Private education bothers lots of people

I think PP got the benefits package mixed up, you’re offered a discount via one of the staff discount schemes but you’re not offered private healthcare as a direct benefit. I can’t see the publicity of such a benefit going down well. The same applies to the Civil Service as we get a discount through Edenred but not a direct healthcare benefit.

My OH gets the direct healthcare benefit and I absolutely rinse it for all I can.

This entire thread encapsulates the 'bring your whole self to work' thinking in a nutshell. How the guy chooses to educate his kids is absolutely none of your business. Does he do his job well? Hit budgets and targets? Motivate and retain good quality employees? Work well with the schools within his remit? Would you be happy with a poor performing DoE as long as they sent their kids to state school?

And who gives two fucks. Good on him.

Or, one could be very happy that the Director of Education had done a great job at enabling the education services in their area to deliver great results across a number of schools, but accept that they want something different for their children. And by them choosing something different, they have freed up a space for someone else with a greater need for it.

The state system is, by and large, shit. I don’t blame him at all. Just because he’s working on trying to make something better doesn’t mean it’s not shit.