What would you think about this email from school? Sudden change of class teacher.

[Junglemoon]

We had an email yesterday evening from our (primary age) child's headteacher saying that his class teacher Mr Smith had left and that as of tomorrow his teacher would be Mrs Jones. No further details as to what on earth was going on, the email was literally three sentences.

Mrs Jones has been teaching them the last couple of days but our son was told and believed that Mr Smith was just off ill. He and most of his class were very upset in school this morning that there would apparently be no chance to say goodbye to Mr Smith, who is much loved by the children. Neither the children nor the parents were given any notice of this or any preparation.

On top of this the headteacher and the deputy head are apparently away at a conference and unable to answer phone calls or answer any questions and none of the other staff appear to know anything about the issue. The student counsellor was in the classroom this morning trying to reassure the children but she had no answers for them or anyone else.

Some of the parents have phoned and emailed (we are in contact with each other) to express concern and unhappiness about how abrupt this has been and how little information we've been given and the head has replied to an email from one father saying that Mr Smith had left suddenly and she couldn't provide any further details.

Obviously my mind is going all over the place. I can think of a few things that could be sudden and confidential, but if it was something that had to do with the children's safety, the school would have to inform us, wouldn't they? If something awful has happened to Mr Smith I suppose we wouldn't be owed that information but it does seem very hard on the children to just be like 'Mr Smith is gone, you won't see him again, Mrs Jones will be your teacher now'. Which is all they got.

But in that case, you’d want the message to include some friendly words about you, surely, even if they are formulaic and non-informative.

Becuase that’s the convention that signals: “Unicorn hasn’t done anything wrong here, it’s a bit sudden but nothing to worry about”.

The message OP’s school sent is the one that by convention signals: “Unicorn has done something bad and we’re not sorry to see the back of her.”

If it were me, I’d be pretty upset if I’d gone off for some blameless reason and the school had sent out message two.

But, as has been shown by the OP & her fellow parents, it's a difficult path for the school to tread because of the parents' OTT response and entitled sense that they need to know everything about their child's teacher.
Giving more information but not the actual reason would just lead to even more questions and speculation/gossip.

This is clearly a difficult situation and the school wants to inform parents but not give out more information than they or the teacher is comfortable with.

No doubt more information will be given at a later date when the school is able to give it.
In the meantime, the parents should be pleased a teacher has been put in place rather than random supply teachers & help their children just deal with it and move on.

The idea that the "school counselor" needed to be in the classroom to help the children cope with just a simple change of teacher is ludicrous really. Reception or Year 1 kids maybe but not by age 8, surely?
And that in itself sent the message to both parents and children that something terrible had happened.

I remember how quickly my own children used to forget a teacher they were apparently devoted to once they moved into a new year group! Give it a week or so and these kids will have moved on.

@GeneralPeter what wording would you think suitable. If someone is just getting their heads round a serious health concern do they want it broadcast that they are leaving work because of a medical condition. If it is worded as personal circumstances some parents will construe that as school hiding behind that phrase to hide the fact it was a safeguarding concern.

Almost any wording that includes a friendly sentiment works. Because all this needs to signal is "this person hasn't done something awful". Generic is fine.

"We wish X well" or "look forward to welcoming X back" or whatever, or "Mrs Jones will be continuing the great work Mr Smith has been doing with Year 5", or really anything.

Or they could directly address it: "While we appreciate this has happened on short notice, we would like to assure parents that there is no cause for concern".

A few parents are always going to want to pry into details. But there is a much larger group of parents who don't have the time or inclination to pry, unless they think something bad involving the children may have happened.

Edited to add: parents may also have to answer questions from their children. Even knowing that X hasn't done anything bad gives them something to go on.

Otherwise the school is practically inviting rumour: "Did Mr Smith do something bad?" "I don't know, darling, the school hasn't told us."

The trouble with the presence or absence of ‘friendly words’ is that it DOES give too much implicit information, & encourages nosy parker parents to pore over various messages over time for nuance.

’Well it didn’t say they appreciate everything Mr Smith has given to the school, like they did when Ms Bloggs vanished last term & it turned out she had a terminal illness, so Mr Smith is obviously a wrong ‘un’…

& meanwhile poor Mr Smith is just a very private chap who doesn’t want the world to know just yet that, say, his wife is extremely ill & he needs to look after her/his dc, & has asked the school not to say anything.

Or an allegation/complaint has been made, & whilst he’s actually completely blameless, he’s said ‘fuck this for a game of conkers, don’t bother suspending me, I was going to retire this year anyway -I quit’ - so the rumour mill grinds on even though subsequent investigation demonstrates that he didn’t actually do anything wrong.

Meanwhile, next week Mr Patel leaves abruptly, the school DO release a ‘friendly’ statement & the parents assume he must be at his last gasp, when actually he’d resigned in time for Christmas but been begged to stay on until Ms Taylor could come back after her maternity leave & take over…

It’s much safer all round just to establish that it’s None Of Your Business, Parents, & stick to that.

@GeneralPeter do you expect to be told why someone has left in any organisation you have dealings with?

No. Are you saying you would want everyone to know about, say, MH issues or a family problem?

We've always been told 'for family reasons' or 'due to a medical issue' when teachers have left suddenly at DC's school. I think it stops the gossiping to a certain extent if they use these phrases. I knew the teacher who left 'for family reasons' suddenly - her husband had left her without warning and she went to stay with her sister in another part of the country. (Obviously I didn't tell any other parents that). In my experience children get over it quickly and move on to the next teacher without issues.

No, hence “friendly words… even if they are formulaic and non-informative.”

This is exactly why that convention exists.

To say “you don’t need to know the details, but it’s fine”.

No. Would I want to know if it was an arrest on suspicion of child abuse (or, in a different professional context, fraud)? Yes.

Conventional friendly, formulaic wording is the technology that lets us convey that it’s not something like that, but without having to disclose personal details.

A lot of people on this thread seem to think that such wording is either meaningless or is a privacy-infringing device, whereas I think it’s a privacy-protecting device (provided enough people are on the same page about what it’s doing, as with any convention).

@Thmssngvwlsrnd but that is still sharing private information even if in general terms.

Also family, personal reasons, spending more time with family type phrases have been used with regards to politicians when it is to cover up they have done something wrong

And if a teacher doesn’t want any term like medical/personal to be used then that will lead to parents speculating that it is down to safeguarding reasons. What if they have left because of the nosey/interfering parents how could that be expressed!

@GeneralPeter you are wanting more information than can be given? What happens if a teacher had been arrested and then found innocent, or questioned and then no charges as malicious complaint. Do you think parents should be allowed to know about the initial proceedings

Yes, this is the challenge of shifting conventions.

It’s also the value of slightly formulaic ‘friendly formality’. No one gets a page about how amazing they are and no one gets a terse one-liner (unless they left under a cloud).

The did / didn’t leave under a cloud is an important distinction to maintain though, because it’s where it engages a legitimate interest of the parents.

I disagree. I have been in this position as a teacher and nobody needs to know anything.

Again, any communication sets a precedent.

Teacher A leaves suddenly for health reasons. School sends a email indicating health issues, with teacher's consent

Teacher B leaves suddenly for health reasons, but wants their privacy so does not sanction an email.

Parents then assume that because there's no email like the one they received about teacher A, that teacher B must have been suspended/sacked/done something tricky.

This is why communication involving any kind of HR situation has become impersonal and formulaic. Nothing is ever simple.

Thank god I’m not alone. Thank you.

GeneralPeter
No. Would I want to know if it was an arrest on suspicion of child abuse (or, in a different professional context, fraud)? Yes.

Why? So you could have them chased out of town?

Speaking as someone who is in the profession, I've seen this happen quite a few times...
Reasons:

• Her husband (who wasn't old by any means), just randomly dropped dead. Leaving her with two primary school aged children.
• Diagnosed with cancer. Died a year later.
• Her young adult daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, was in and out of hospital and very unwell. Died about 6 months later.
• Was under a performance improvement plan. Went off with stress, and never came back.
• An elderly parent who lived far away had a sudden medical event. Teacher was the only family member who could assist.
• Fell over in the school playground. Broke her leg in 3 places.

I can also think of at least 3 teachers who just didn't return after a school holiday. They'd just had enough and said "fuck it" to the normal "terms notice". One was a teacher from Canada, who just didn't turn up after a Christmas holiday. She was uncontactable for quite some time. An emergency contact told them she was "well, but not interested in communicating with them." It was later found out that she'd just packed up her stuff and returned to Canada. There was nothing really the school could do about it. The class muddled through with the help for a few long term supply teachers.

In short, a number of reasons, but mostly health related. If it was anything actively damaging to your child, you'd have been informed.

@CaptainMyCaptain But communication is never in a cultural vacuum. It can’t be.

Customary little signals of gratitude or respect or non-hostility are ubiquitous and for very good reasons.

In that context:

”Captain will not be returning to school.”

says way more than:

”Captain will not be returning to school. We wish her well.”

Trying to make the former the norm is not, in my view, an improvement.

The second one is perfectly OK. You can wish someone well without hinting at their reason for leaving.

That’s really all I’ve been saying all along. “Friendly formulaic” is the solution here, exactly because it doesn’t set expectations for lots of disclosure, but also because it’s unavoidable (and actually useful) that parents will want to know if there’s some kind of serious concern.

It’s the way to meet both those needs.

And if a school put Teacher A is leaving, we wish them well and then turns out Teacher A had been convicted for sex acts against a pupil, that phrase might bite them on the bum when parents find out about the conviction Parents would not be impressed with the school wishing them well

It’s not for you to know, beaky

If your solicitor was arrested on suspicion of fraud, would you want to know?

A hundred reasons why you might want or need to know, none involving vigilantism.

Even more so for the child abuse case.

The Guardian article posted by a PP is spot on unfortunately and there is no doubt in my mind that this issue is having a significant impact on teacher retention.

By the way, do people realise what happens when a school does let parents know well in advance that a class teacher will be leaving mid-year? Absolute carnage, that's what.
Parents emailing and calling the school demanding to know who the replacement teacher will be before we even know ourselves.
Parents bombarding the outgoing class teacher with lengthy emails about how distraught their child is making them feel like utter shit for exercising their right to leave their job.
Parents speculating on social media about why the teacher is leaving or even having the gall to quiz them directly about it on the playground.
Parents asking the outgoing teacher to exchange personal email addresses or text each other to "keep in touch" as their child just loves them so much and they genuinely believe this teacher wants to recieve updates about little Matilda's ballet exams and videos of her performing a medley of songs from Wicked in her garden. I wish to God I was joking.
Loads of parents demanding meetings with the new class teacher before they're even in post.
Kids getting anxious and stressed about it because their parents have made it into a much bigger deal than it needs to be.
There are reasons why schools, even when a departure is not altogether unexpected, might not tell parents about changes until they have to and most of them relate to people's inability to respect boundaries and understand what is and is not appropriate.