Parents’ WhatsApp Group vile comments

[MadeleineMummy]

i am a member of my year’s WhatsApp group and one of the parents has posted rather a vile comment about one of the teachers. The child got a bad mark and the parent said she looked at the homework and the questions were ambiguous and badly worded. She then had a rant at the (rather young) teacher and said that she told her daughter that the teacher was an idiot and to ignore her. I posted that this was not an appropriate thing to say and would undermine the discipline in the school. Then several other women started having a go at me also stating concerns with the teacher due to her harsh marking and strictness. They said the WhatsApp group was the place to discuss concerns about the teacher and if I did not like it, I could leave the group.

I think the comments are inappropriate but also find the group invaluable for school issues, last minute changes and information about trips etc. but I find a small group of women seem to have taken over the group to rant about one teacher and victimise her. My child says she is strict but likes her as she is a good teacher and she loves the subject.

I feel like telling the teacher or the school as I have taken screenshots of the conversations, the comments are pretty bad and includes stuff about her personal life along the lines of (“she obviously needs a good shag”, “She looks like a frump”, etc). Do you think it would create a bad feeling if I share this with her? I also don’t know what it would achieve if I broach this with the school but I think that undermining a teacher is the most appropriate use of the whatsApp parents group.

what should I do?

And if lots of people leave teaching , or avoid going into teaching then we would see more virtual learning , lessons at home.

I bet these awful parents would be the first to complain about home schooling because there’s not enough teachers to teach. Yet they’re so vile to the people educating their children.

I think there will be a shortage of teachers in the next decade or so anyway.

Something similar happened a few years ago on my sons WhatsApp school group. It was reported to the head and the year group WhatsApp had to be deleted. We never had another one for that year group and had to use Facebook to get updates on things .

I would let the head know, it's clearly not "snitching". I would want to know, and I would contact the parents and ask them what their issue with the teaching was and try to solve it (or explain the behaviour policy so that they can see it's for the benefit of everyone and not just "strictness" for fun. So model to them that if they talk to the school rather than bitch in WhatsApp groups then things can be solved. Incidentally, I call any parent that I see complaining about my school on social media and about half of the time the issue isn't half as bad as the social media rants would have you believe.

'an suggested she work in an old people's home or a library because she defenatly doesn't like children'.

What a charming comment. Pure class.

Mind you, perhaps the teacher does know how to spell....

While I agree that it's morally wrong, rude disrespectful and could lead to the children of said parents thinking it's ok to disrespect the teacher etc.
However you are tripping if you think it's against the law. It really isn't. If it was that would be a massive over reach imagine getting thrown in jail for criticising a teacher.
So yeah morally wrong but not legally wrong

It's no where near bad enough to be considered malicious communication

We do dont need no edukashun, we dont need no fort control.

Such a shame your comment was deleted, Courtneyanjacksmum · Today 10:13. Bet it was pure class and so well-written. 😆

At the end of the day there is what is criminal and what is being an arse. You cannot legislate for the latter but one would expect some common decency from a group of women who represent what I thought was the conscience of society, but I think I am living in a deluded and non-existent Victorian era. Women are just as much arses as anyone else.

Mothers are essentially the guardians of the next generation and serve to preserve society by instilling the correct values in their offspring who will take up the mantle of preserving the human race.

I see we are fucked.

I'm fearful for the education and wellbeing of our children.

Since the lockdowns children's behaviour, at home and at school, has been in decline. Teachers have had to adapt to meet this sudden need, forcing them to be firmer than they perhaps want to get or have had to be in the past.

It's no wonder that:

1. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves - who wants an argument every time they ask a child to do something completely reasonable?

1. In interviews, school leaders are favouring candidates that have high expectations of children.

1. Schools are updating and applying behaviour policies with increased rigor in an attempt to create a culture where learning can take place.

So it may well seem stricter to us and our children but school's manage large groups and not individuals.

I'm not saying that all teachers are good teachers but the person who is being talked about in this group chat has been described as being 'good'. If these teachers are victimised in this way, they will leave so the pool of quality, experienced teachers gets smaller.

Then what happens?

And the fathers are just sperm providers?

Well done for sticking up for the teacher in the group! This is totally inappropriate and should absolutely be reported to the head, with the screenshots (I would not go directly to the teacher, the head will let them know if/ when they feel it is appropriate to do so when they deal with it). I’m sure the school will have a policy about the mistreating of their staff members and this definitely goes against that.

This kind of abuse of teachers is unfortunately far too common and shouldn’t be tolerated. whether the homework was ambiguous or not, why does that warrant these foul comments about her work wise OR about her personally? If they have a problem, they should bring it up using the correct channels with the school. This is bully behaviour and they should be called out on in by the head.

There are people who vent at the expense of others and say things in 'private' they'd never say to their face. My thoughts are the Teacher will be aware there are certain parents she isn't popular with & probably doesn't care. If she is doing her best for the pupils and there are no bad reports of misconduct etc I'd ignore it and not add fuel to the fire. They'll eventually find someone else to moan about.

Don't do that. It might get the teacher into trouble.

Just say in the what app group that " everyone will have opinions about different teachers but this isnt the place for that. I suggest anyone that has an issue with their child and a teacher discuss it with the individual teacher and not start a witch hunt.

This is a place for sharing information.

This is absolutely disgusting, however invaluable I found the group, I would leave immediately and email the head with the screenshots.

I’m a mother and a teacher and I steer well clear of year group WhatsApps.

If anyone has a complaint about my work they can go through the proper channels i.e. email the school. If I receive a query about my work I will respond appropriately. If the parent is not satisfied with my response they can take it to my line manager.

If parents have an issue with a teacher then they should go through the proper channels. It’s not ok to damage peoples’ professional reputations on social media and personal comments about teachers appearance etc are never ok.

Ur in a pta group either join them or leave them seems normal pta behaviour

PTA = parent teacher association. I doubt very much this is a PTA group!!

Pains in The Ass, perhaps!

I was a teacher many years ago and the biggest problem was the attitude of some parents who thought their kids could do no wrong. As it happened their kids were worst behaved and probably carried this entitled attitude into their adult working life. Parents like these are too stupid and immature to realise what they are doing. Yes I would tell the head and hopefully they will deal with these parents accordingly. They’re acting like children and should be told off as you would a child

And allow this vile group to continue to privately bully the teacher behind her back? Bullies should be held accountable and that is exactly what the WhatsApp group is.

Agreed that this person sounds like a bully too.

How? How would they know who to contact without breaching privacy laws?

The school may send out a general email to all parents but they certainly wouldn’t send out a personalised email.