Would you pursue this with the school?

[Cristall]

I found out during the Easter holidays that DC’s teacher left suddenly a fortnight before the holidays started. Nobody was informed until the email arrived earlier this week. The teacher had only worked there since Christmas. There’s a replacement teacher taking over after the holidays.

I’m concerned that the teacher left so suddenly. My thinking is that if nothing was amiss the school would have made him work his notice, at least until Easter. The fact he left so suddenly makes me think he’s been sacked for some unknown incident.

Would you ask the school for clarification? Do I have the right to demand it? At the very least I want to know if he quit or was sacked - and if he was sacked, why.

it’s none of your business….if you left a job for whatever reason would you think it appropriate for the employer to tell their clients why?

Let it go.

There are many reasons why a teacher might leave speedily - it may have been planned all along under his contract.

I also think it was unreasonable of the school not to inform parents when the teacher left, two weeks before Easter. We didn’t know our child didn’t have a teacher. We only found out a couple of days ago.

Are you paying for this school, OP?

Because then you would have been complaining that there was no teacher and the school had no plan to cover. Instead they’ve waited to be able to give you a definite plan for the coming term. They can’t win.

I suspect the delay was not down to the school, but the teacher that left. Often the school have their hands tied for various reasons, for example if the teacher was signed off sick for a short period initially, or if they are let go and ask for their notice period to be waived so they can start supply/looking for new jobs asap. They may not have known initially that the teacher wasn't coming back.

I’m concerned that the teacher left so suddenly. My thinking is that if nothing was amiss the school would have made him work his notice, at least until Easter. The fact he left so suddenly makes me think he’s been sacked for some unknown incident.

Well, now you know he was quite likely working on a supply basis, there are no notice periods, so this huge jump to conclusions you have made is probably not the case…

Maybe he decided to leave because some of the parents in the class were such a pain in the arse.

Why would you immediately jump to sacking for misconduct as opposed to a personal emergency issue that is NONE of your business? Goodness gracious me. You are not obliged to be informed of any teacher's absence for any reason. That is up to the school to manage.

Exactly! I should have been informed that my child had no teacher, and given a timely opportunity to deal with how this sudden loss has affected her. Instead I was left in the dark about my child’s circumstances.

Well, it clearly hasn’t affected her very much at all, if she didn’t even notice/tell you that her teacher wasn’t teaching her!

WTAF?

given a timely opportunity to deal with how this sudden loss has affected her

You what? Has she experienced deep grief, or something?

I'm guessing she is your first/eldest child, and she is about seven years old.

What year is your child?

Because when people leave work suddenly with no explanation it’s usually a sacking. If he was unwell and they were organising a replacement they would have said so. If he was leaving for another job they would have wished him well in the letter (as they have done previously when teachers have left). The fact they said nothing about why he vanished is very suspicious.

Absolutely agree about the observation. As a Ta I've seem staff leave over poor observation results.

Depending on circumstances the school may not have known the exact outcome themselves until now.

It’s obviously not had a detrimental impact on your child or you’d have known.

Why are you so sure there has been misconduct? Has your child told you this? Is there information you are not telling us? I'm struggling to see why you think you are so important the rules of privacy dont apply to you.

As I've just explained, it may well have been temporary initially, so they couldn't have told you she didn't have a teacher if in fact she still did and they were just off.

My child has autism and struggles with changes in routine. This is a major change in routine that I should have been informed about.

If he was unwell and didn’t want it announced they absolutely wouldn’t have said so.

If this was anything to do with your child you’d know.

You’re not entitled to know this man’s personal information simply because he taught your child briefly.

Massive drip feed there, Op? Is she attending a Special Ed setting?

You won't be told and your child who has autism has no right to know whether the teacher has had a traumatic bereavement etc

I really hope if you do go in demanding answers they tell you to swivel.

If your kid is so scared of change why don't you homeschool? Then you'll know exactly what's going on and you can micromanage to your hearts content.. or is that too difficult?

One of the HT at my sons school was gone within a week. All I know was that it was serious. I have also known teachers sacked on the spot. It does happen.

This makes no difference to his right to privacy. Your child will be fine, thus probably won't be the last time in their school years that a teacher/ta etc will leave unexpectedly. This is done and gone, what you need to now is to help and encourage your child to build a positive relationship with their new teacher, so they can continue their learning.

Well clearly she managed to cope really well, since you had no idea that it had happened for two weeks. So I'd be cheering that progress, rather than hoping that the teacher has had some dreadful family issue.

I'm still struggling to get my head around you saying that you say you'd actually feel better if the latter is the case. Teachers are simply a commodity to you then, not actual human beings.