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.

What do you think has happened? It sounds very much like you are accusing him of inappropriate behaviour without having any evidence.

I understand that it’s confusing for your child but your job as a parent is to help them to deal with that.

You are gossiping.

This.

It is also possible that it is an agreement between the school and teacher as the school has been at fault and the school doesn't want it taking any further.

I do think it’s no one’s business. If you are required to know the reasons why he’s left you will be told.

The children will be fine

When Covid started, one of my colleagues got Covid and parents rang up the school expecting the school to divulge personal health information about one of their employees,

Parents need to get a grip

It wouldn't show up so quickly if he only left this week! There would have to be a disciplinary hearing with the school and governors before he faced the teacher standards committee. That can take months.

Why do some parents feel they own or are entitled to know everything about their child’s teachers? Stop your pearl clutching, reassure your child, don’t contribute to the ridiculous gossip and move on.

I’d think oh that’s sad and wonder why he’s leaving but frankly the reasons are his business. It’s none of your business why he’s going, do you always go around trying to find problems?

As long as they work their notice period they can leave any time they like.

Unless you think they're all being held hostage?

True. He could've made a complaint against the SLT and has been paid off to leave.

Show me you don't work in a school in one post!
Teachers have set times of year they have to leave and this is not one of them

We had exactly this with DC 2.
Although Dc 1 also had an abrupt change of teacher. We didn’t know why, until nearly 14 months later when his court case for embezzlement was featured in the press. There still wasn’t as much drama as op and their fellow class parents seem intent on creating!

No, teachers are only allowed to resign at the end of a term. Their notice period is the term. They cannot leave whenever they like. So yes, they are held hostage in a way! It's one of the downsides of working as a teacher, that you can't just up and leave.

My DP is a teacher.

you have no right to know and rightly so! It could be a safeguarding issue or he could have been diagnosed with a terminal illness! if it is safeguarding the school will have to put strategies in place to minimise it happening again, so at that point parents may be told! However, do t expect to be.

Well you can walk out but you won’t get paid. Probably won’t get another job either in the state system but could go private or supply. It could be gross misconduct and instant dismissal.

You should know that teachers, just like police officers and firefighters and doctors and the people who assist you at the market, ad nauseam, have private lives. They are entitled to keep their private lives private - just as you are.

And for whatever reason your son’s teacher left school suddenly for private reasons. You could lie awake for months and never guess for what reason your son’s teacher left, but shame on those of you for thinking the worst. Perhaps you’re projecting - I don’t know, because I don’t know you any more than you know this lad’s teacher.

If your son’s former teacher wanted everybody to know the reason he abruptly left, he would’ve said.
But he didn’t, so it’s up to you to explain private lives and privacy and boundaries to your children.

Perhaps in the future this gentleman will share. Perhaps not.
Currently, it’s none of your never mind why.

Try really hard to put yourself in his place.

Yes that’s right. Don’t give up till you know EVERYTHING. It’s hugely disruptive to your child. Very very strange that another teacher would take over the VERY NEXT day. OMG. How dare they???? Very unreasonable of the teacher not to have called a meeting to tell you all everything.

I disagree. A lot of schools do not tell parents if a teacher is planning on leaving because it causes too much panic (a bit like this post) and far too many questions being asked. We have two members of staff leaving at Easter. Parents have not been told and won't be until the last week, if not then day before they leave. The only time it becomes obvious if a teacher is going is pregnancy and parents being able to guess that a teacher looks full term.

Some people are suggesting the school should have sent out a message to say what was happening....which is exactly what they have done.

I think people should consider how they would feel if it was a reverse and their child was leaving the school - would you want all parents of the class to know 1. Fred won't be back because he is seriously ill (which he isn't aware of himself) 2. Fred has been permanently excluded and they are waiting for a new school.

Mr Smith has resigned because he couldn’t stand the gossipy parents.

Or they’ve complained about the school and the school agreed to them going to save further issues.

or the relationship between teacher and SLT has completely broken down and they’ve mutually agreed it’s better to go.

Or the teacher has just had enough and decided not to come back regardless of notice periods (more and more common atm with conditions in schools) as they’re quitting teaching.

There’s also the chance they wanted to go at Christmas and agreed to stay on until Mrs Jones was available to take over full time (less likely).

Oh, they do.

You can be signed off sick though.

Given how short staffed schools are even teachers who walk out would likely get another job nowadays. In some places schools are desperate for staff.

Most who just walk out don’t want to teach again though so it wouldn’t really matter

What a good opportunity to teach your child resilience. Demanding answers is not ok. Honestly can’t understand why anyone would want to go into teaching, when it appears most parents today are completely insufferable.

Credit and thanks to all teachers who have to put up with this.

This has made me laugh but there could be some truth in your comment 😅