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Original poster

what the most hilarious and groundless parental complaint you've ever fielded?

341 replies

HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 18:02

I have heard of one parent complaining a member of staff wasn't singing in a parents assembly.

OP posts:
Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:09

Of course ANYONE who is on the PTA or a governor their kid gets lead role in plays. Hmm

OP posts:
Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:11

Complaints that staff won't do desperate parents evening appointments for FULLY GROWN ADULTS who happen to be divorced. Because they can't sit next to each other.

OP posts:
Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:11

Separate. Not desparate.

OP posts:
GingerbreadGretel · 06/02/2013 22:13

How many lead roles do you have, Hanne? Wink

Charmingbaker · 06/02/2013 22:17

I've done quite a few desperate parent evenings over the years!
Talking of separated parents once had a mother phone to ask exactly how long her ex husband had been in class helping that morning. She needed to know the exact (to the minute) amount of time as this would be deducted from his weekly contact time.

Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:24

None!!

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Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:25

Lol. Oh yes. You do hear tmi about divorces often.

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FelicityWasCold · 06/02/2013 22:30

And the "copying in" parent.
Oh yes. They email you with something trivial and copy in every single memeber of the WORLD staff.

IME it's ruder when they write you a scathing/disrespectful email and copy in their teenager! Now that does wind me up!

MavisGrind · 06/02/2013 22:30

I will always remember the Saturday morning I was casually clicking through the MN threads and came across am AIBU thread who, on reading, I realised came from a mum to a child in my class. She wasn't (thankfully) complaining about here but was having a good unfounded whinge about school. She had a general flaming and although I'm a paragon of professionalism I've been itching to slip in "It's not unreasonable to say....." into any conversation I've had with her since!

Hanne You might be fond of the vino but I do like your cheekbones and style Wink lover of Scandi stuff

Flogship · 06/02/2013 22:30

dangly i swear to you that our kids can tell who a lost jumper belongs to by smelling it. Its a small school with 100 kids but still an impressive feat. Maybe your nutty parent isn't as nutty as all that.

MavisGrind · 06/02/2013 22:31

complaining about me tsk...

Original poster
HanneHolm · 06/02/2013 22:37

Mavis NO WAY!
Christ

OP posts:
aJumpedUpPantryBoy · 06/02/2013 22:41

A parent once complained that I was leaving both of his sons out of the rugby team because I was racist against the English (we are in Wales, they had moved here from London)
The rugby sessions were open to all and his sons hadn't attended any, they showed no interest or inclination to play - when I pointed this out he said it was because they knew I was anti-English. When I said I was born and brought up in England he said I was a Welsh liar!

muminthecity · 06/02/2013 22:42

Two weeks ago I had a parent shout in my face for several minutes, told me she was reporting me to the head and to Ofsted, that I was in the wrong job and that she had had to restrain her husband for coming to the school that morning because he was so furious she was worried what he may do to me. Why? Because her DD had gone home with wet socks the previous day Confused. The child had no wellies, and it wasn't possible for her to remain inside all day. She hadn't told me her feet were wet, or asked to change her socks. Apparently I should be checking with the children that their feet are not wet on a daily basis, after outside play Hmm.

MavisGrind · 06/02/2013 22:42

Hanne Oh, yes - way! Grin I've been on here for years, have lived all over the world and it's the first time I've recognised an OP from RL.

It was a bit freaky actually..!

muminthecity · 06/02/2013 22:43

And I'm not even a teacher, I'm a TA. When the parent spoke to the teacher she was very polite about it all, and spoke to teacher very nicely and respectfully.

Wolfiefan · 06/02/2013 22:53

I was accused of picking on a GCSE student after picking up that lots of her coursework (I've been teaching a few years!) was copied and pasted from a website. She didn't even understand what she had written but I was in the wrong.
[Wish I'd let the exam board deal with it emoticon!]

makemineapinot · 06/02/2013 22:54

Family having taken son out of school on holiday for 2 weeks, phone on the Mon morning to say they're stuck in a traffic jam 2o miles from school - 3 days later he's finally back! That was week before parents night when they complained o me that their little darling has not been getting enough work to do at school Hmm

JaneLane · 06/02/2013 23:03

I'm not sure if I'm allowed in here because I'm a lowly careers advisor but I shall venture in anyway!

I was accused of needlessly ruining one student's dreams - I told him that he probably wouldn't get any offers to study medicine with his A-Levels of Sports Science, Geography and Business Studies and apparently his parents thought I was being unreasonable and didn't know what I was talking about...

Schooldidi · 06/02/2013 23:12

Mum phoned the school to complain that I wouldn't reschedule an exam for her PFB because they were on holiday. It was a GCSE Maths exam - I am not responsible for setting the dates of those! The dates of all exams had been given to them in plenty of time but they chose to ignore those letter/email/reminders as it would be perfectly fine for us to just let her dd do the exam when she came back.

sashh · 07/02/2013 06:55

It's not just parents.

I'm in FE.

I taught a group ITC 1 hour a week 9am, lots of students coming in late.

One student asked why I marked him absent the previous week, I said because he wasn't there.

He said he was. I said maybe I'd made a mistake (I didn't remember him being in class) so could he show me some of last weeks work. Well no, he hadn't done any work, but he claimed he had been in class.

I said he had no proof, I didn't remember him so no mark.

He spent the lesson complaining and the next 20 mins following me round to my next class and then reappeared at break.

I'm 5ft0 and he was 6ft, I was getting nervous.

I discussed it with my line manager before I went that day.

The next day there was an email to my line manager saying I was punishing students by not marking them present if they didn't work, that this was terrible behavior etc. etc. The student needed their EMA and I was being unfair.

The line manager forwarded the e-mail for me to respond.

I started by thanking the tutor for being so professional as to get the entire story before criticising a fellow professional.

ripsishere · 07/02/2013 07:13

Not a teacher - DH is poor sod. I have helped out in DDs classes a lot.
There was the mother who decided that her DD couldn't go out for playtime because she was 'virtually albino' and the sun screen made her legs sticky. We were in Bangkok. Try avoiding the sun there.
Another who wanted to know who was responsible for helping the Y4 children change into their swimming stuff.
One more who wanted the staff to ensure their DC didn't finish his milk and fruit at snack time because it put her off her dinner.
One parent made an appt to see DH when he was asst Principal of the school to discuss which options their DC should take to ensure they were accepted to Oxford. We were still in Thailand and the DC was around 4.

ripsishere · 07/02/2013 07:14

Third one should be she didn't finish her snack. I think the mother had body image issues, the poor child was as thin as a rake and starving by 9.30

ohfunnyhoneyface · 07/02/2013 07:37

Not my student, but a parent complained that their child needed to be allowed to run around outside to let off steam if he has struggling to settle down in class. He was 12.

Another one (in a state school) sent in a note to say that their child could not complete the HW (asking what charity/ies their family supported) as they believed it was encouraging a lack of personal responsibility to rely on charity, and that they only supported the local Private School which their older son attended. Interestingly, their younger son (the one who was set this HW) did not attend the school as he did not pass their entrance exam and they had no SEN provision for his complex needs.

LadyMargolotta · 07/02/2013 07:42

ohfunnyhoneyface regarding the boy who needed to run around - is that so unusual? It sounds like a good idea to me. And I know that for some children (not in the UK), it is written into their educational 'care plan' - that they run around the playground a few times if they cannot settle in class.