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.

Poor chap, he could be seriously ill and you are moaning that you weren’t given notice?

sometimes people are so ill that they never can even clear their office, happened to exh, my dd cleared it. Just understand that schools are employers and have a duty of care to their employees to maintain confidentiality. It could be down the line more information is released in the case of illness but that is for the teacher to decide not the school

But you haven't offered an acceptable alternative to what the school did.

I love the people on here going "the poor kids not getting to say goodbye to a popular teacher, they should be told why he's left" and simultaneously "well he's obviously been let go because he's a peado"...

If there had been an actual danger to your child's welfare you would have been told personally. There is no continuing danger to anyone as the teacher has left.

I gave notice but had to leave suddenly for health reasons. I was signed off by the doctor until my leaving date but I never intended to go back. I don't know what the Head said about me, it was his bullying that made me ill.

@Junglemoon when my daughter was in year 4 we got a call (no email then) to say our parents' evening was cancelled and that the teacher was going off that day. Poor lady had just had a breast clinic appointment and discovered she had breast cancer. Things do really happen that quickly!
She gave permission for the reason to be given but had she not then that's her right. The replacement teacher was lovely. She was off nearly a year with treatment, obviously my daughter moved up a class in that time. You just have to be upbeat for your children with whatever is appropriate. Life happens.

There could be a number of reasons. I wouldn’t be getting my knickers in a twist about it though. Children learn from example and you can just say it’s sad but another good teacher will be teaching them and you will have good memories of Mr Smith and move on.

Yes I have.

You haven't, because using any phrase beyond 'they have left' gives more information about the person than any random parent is entitled to know - either due to the detail or the lack of it.

Anything more than the bare fact that they have left can be interpreted multiple ways, depending upon how the parent wishes to interpret it.

I'll take that as a 'no'.

You’ve in danger of winning a long-running argument with yourself, against a position I’m not making. A few more rounds and I think you’ll have it in the bag.

@GeneralPeter

Another problem with your demand for schools to share information with parents is that unscrupulous SLT would use it to put a cloud/shadow (whatever) over the teacher that has left.

I have known many teachers that have left, and SLT have just acted like they have disaapeared,
These are teachers of good standing, and frankly your damand/entitlement for more information would just give these nasty people more power to hurt those that have left.
Expeciially whne people like you are prepared to read far too much into any statement or non statement made.

You haven't read my posts, clearly, I explain how the transition could have been handled.

thE OP hasn't been back since the 12th, it's now the 17th, time to let this thread go

It wasn't acceptable.

Yes, you are being unreasonable to expect an explanation of someone’s personal life. And if your child is that sensitive & can not deal with the change, may I suggest some residence building.
Parents like you truly make the life of school staff an absolute misery.

"I know that's none of my business."

Obviously you don't

Who do you think you are?

Mr smith has most likely had a settlement agreement and left. Massive red flags for the school.

I should have worded it better. I meant he won't have worked his full notice period.

Not all settlement agreements are red flags. You don't always know the reasons for the settlement

Someone who thinks your suggestion is unacceptable obviously.

Good, glad you accept it's only your opinion.

not sure what you find unacceptable,

Well, I think that has been handled really badly, of course the teacher is entitled to privacy, but the young children are entitled to some kind of explanation when a person they are in close contact with isn't going to be there any more & some kind of closure ...
they could have had some child friendly explanation & had prepared an appropriate activity as a way of saying good bye' if he couldn't do it in person, an adult suddenly disappearing is unsettling for children. They're not robots. Even if he has been 'let go' the children could have been given the opportunity to make a card saying good bye & writing a few words about their favourite memory etc.If he's been 'let go' due to a work issue, or he's left for a personal reason where's the harm in the cards?
its highly unlikely, but even if he has turned out to be a thoroughly rotten apple, the school could have just kept or disposed of the cards. .
It's is incredibly cold to say the kids just need to be resilient or 'get over it'. They're entitled to have feelings too! & resiliance isn't built by cruel & thoughtless behaviour

don't know what you find unacceptable. But whatever, it's only your opinion so it really doesn't matter.

I think my opinion matters because I know a few teachers who have had to leave suddenly, including myself, and none of us have been any danger to pupils. In all cases it has been sickness related, mainly mental health. My point, and the point several others (experienced teachers) are trying to make is that the reasons are nobody else's business and indicating that one person is not a threat to children then not mentioning that about someone else suggests that they are a threat. I'm not going to bother trying to explain it to you again.

I'll just add that my last Head Teacher would have been unlikely to say anything nice about me as he was the cause of my issues after I had been at that school for 27 years and was nearing retirement anyway (therefore expensive and easily replaced by a newly qualified teacher). My GP was incredibly kind and said he had seen this happen to teachers many times.

I was thinking stress and overwork. Meaning the school isn’t treating its teachers well.
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The last class I worked in lost a teacher suddenly after her mum was diagnosed with dementia and put herself in danger. This was the final straw for this lovely teacher, as the SLT in the school were absolutely terrible.

It was nobody else’s business about her mum, and the school were hardly going to admit how shit the leadership was, were they?