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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Help daughter suspended for facebook post!

100 replies

vinnygal · 20/03/2012 20:41

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate any advise you can give me. My daughter is in Upper 6th about to sit her A levels. I have visited the school on countless occasions over the last year, as have other parents, over the quality of teaching from the Sociology department. The class set a resit exam in January and the got their results a few weeks ago with everyone getting an E grade! In my daughters frustration she took a photo of the school mission statement, the first line being along the lines that they aim to provide a first class education, and posted it on her facebook profile with the caption ' First class my a**' The school found out about this post and have threatened her with the police for libel and have suspended her for 5 days. In the letter I have received it states 'your daughter posted a very derogatory and defamatory picture and comment on facebook about the school. This behaviour is unacceptable and it is for this reason she is being suspended'

I will be phoning the head tomorrow and was wondering what help or advise you could give me. I know she has been foolish but I do think the school have been a bit harsh in their punishment. She was made remove the post and replace it with an apology where she admitted to being childish and immature. I can not see how this post amounts to libel or is as the school pointed out, a criminal offence!

Thanks in advance :)

OP posts:

Gumby · 20/03/2012 20:44

How on earth did the school see it?
You need to check her privacy settings
Or did a 'friend' grass her up?

Re the school I don't think you've got grounds to complain really, what she did was very disrespectful

minceorotherwise · 20/03/2012 20:45

Hi, sorry absolutely no advice to offer. But just wanted to say that it is very amusing and she will dine out on that story in years to come"......

Harecare · 20/03/2012 20:47

I don't know. She'll certainly think twice before posting negative comments about anything else in the future, so maybe it's good to be harsh? But then maybe she was right? Maybe focus more on the teaching and her reasons for saying what she did than the punishment?

Dustinthewind · 20/03/2012 20:48

Is it a private school?
If you are raising an intelligent and questioning young adult, the comment may have been disrespectful in some people's eyes, but for a whole cohort working reasonably hard to get an E, they are being failed by the teaching. And crap teaching doesn't deserve respect.
So I think she's entitled to an opinion.
Check her privacy settings though.

Dustinthewind · 20/03/2012 20:48

Let the school prove that it isn't true.

wannaBe · 20/03/2012 20:50

silly girl.

You don't have a leg to stand on I'm afraid. People have been sacked from their jobs for posting derogatory things on facebook, she has just learned the hard way that the internet is a public platform. Even if she has privacy settings to not show her posts to everyone, once you write something like that down it is written there for ever and anyone can take a screenshot and give it to the relevant individuals.

So I think she just needs to accept that she has been very stupid and lesson learned.

abbierhodes · 20/03/2012 20:51

If the school is so bad she should vote with her feet. I don't think you've really got grounds to complain, she must have known she was in the wrong.

items · 20/03/2012 20:52

It's not about whether it is true or not but the way it was handled. If it is truly believed that the teaching standards are not appropriate, it should have been raised to the appropriate authorities, not shoved on Facebook. Its not as if the school is then going say, oh in that case lets fix it.
You are right it was foolish. The only advice I would say is to be humble with the school, agree she acted impulsively and foolishly and apologises for her behaviour. DO state that she, yourself and others do have concerns about the standards but it should have been handled far better and if they could let you know a way to handle that side.

Dustinthewind · 20/03/2012 20:52

So you think that the dreadful results don't justify the criticism? Or would she have been allowed to have an opinion if she phrased it more eloquently and without the profanity?

Dustinthewind · 20/03/2012 20:54

I think it is vile that we are now living in such a closely monitored state that a 16 year old can't say something negative about an institution without serious consequences.

wannaBe · 20/03/2012 20:55

"Let the school prove that it isn't true."

It doesn't work like that I'm afraid. It comes under the banner of bringing the name of the school into disrepute. I know of a TA who posted derogatory comments about the school he worked for on facebook, all he said was that it wasn't a supportive environment to work in, and he was disciplined for it and given a final written warning. So as a student she has no leg to stand on.

Pandygirl · 20/03/2012 20:57

Honestly, all E grades is proof that they are not providing a first class education, although they may be "aiming" to. (I'm aiming to win the lottery, but I've never bought a ticket).

Part of me says tell them to sue, let your daughter self rep and see what the judge has to say. The bigger part of me says teach your daughter that it's important to be more respectful to authority, she's apologised, let her have 5 days off (suggest she reads her sociology books and tries to teach herself).

malinois · 20/03/2012 20:58

wannaBe: she's a student, not an employee.

Why is it wrong for students to criticise a school that appears to be manifestly failing in the service it is supposed to provide?

Education has become a business, like it or not, and customers are entitled to complain (loudly, in public if they so wish) if that business does not provide the service that taxpayers have paid for.

Or do you simply not believe in freedom of speech? If the school believe they have been libelled, let them take it to court.

RancerDoo · 20/03/2012 20:58

There is a big difference between the comments of an employee who slags off their employer and the position of a student complaining about their school. Employees owe duties to their employers, students do not owe the same to their school.

School has overreacted IMO. Suspension is harsh but i see that they have limited means to discipline students. Threatening her with the police for something that is not even a criminal matter is just stupid.

SpringHeeledJack · 20/03/2012 20:59

I can understand schools disciplining employees, but this sounds pretty heavy handed for a pupil, imo

sounds like she's touched a nerve, there.

oneofsuesylvesterscheerios · 20/03/2012 20:59

It might interest you to know that some employers and some universities recruiting for teaching jobs now ask applicants to log on to their Facebook and Twitter accounts at interview so they can demonstrate the consequences of badly thought-out posts which are in the public domain.

There will be many more cases like this before young people finally realise that what they post on public forums is NOT the same as gossiping with friends in private.

Not a leg to stand on. Suck it up, apologise and learn a lesson.

BrianButterfield · 20/03/2012 20:59

Funny how nobody thinks it's vile that we live in such a closely monitored state that students doing badly in their exams MUST be the teacher's fault...

I've taught the same subject for 8 years. One year a year 13 class might get As and Bs, the next year's Ds and Es. Funnily enough, that's with the same teacher, teaching the same topics in broadly the same way (obviously I update my subject content from year to year as necessary).

items · 20/03/2012 20:59

Do you think posting it on facebook is really a way to provide criticism though? I am all for holding schools accountable but that is not really the right way. I do think 16 year olds need to be held accountable for their actions and not think its appropriate to put things like that in a public forum. Respect of institutions/authority etc is so important in my opinion. Respect does not mean being scared of or not speaking up if you truly believe in something but it has to be done appropriately.

wimini · 20/03/2012 21:00

Your daughter can use the 5 days off to give herself a crash course in self-taught sociology. She can make it a project: get hold of the syllabus for her course, get some proper textbooks and learn the subject hell-for-leather.

Nothing will say "screw you" as much to the school as her getting a better grade than the rest of her classmates as a result of this escapade.

I do sympathise with her but I guess it's a life lesson in thinking before you post/ I'd have done the same sort of thing at her age. Good luck to her.

wannaBe · 20/03/2012 21:01

"I think it is vile that we are now living in such a closely monitored state that a 16 year old can't say something negative about an institution without
serious consequences." tbh I don't think it's about that. I think it's about the fact that what we write on the internet is essentially like publishing it. It's one thing to have an opinion and to voice that opinion to your friends, it's quite another to publish that opinion on the internet and not expect to be taken to task for doing so.

Had this been twenty years ago and the girl had designed a poster and stuck it up somewhere no doubt there would have been consequences for that too. It's a bit like writing notes to each other etc, iyswim.

ggirl · 20/03/2012 21:02

bloody harsh of the school

they're diverting the attention away from the actual issue of bad teaching

Dustinthewind · 20/03/2012 21:02

I'm a teacher Brian, and I stand by my comments. One would expect a spread of results, all Es to me indicates a serious problem with the teaching.

Henry1980 · 20/03/2012 21:02

Just so you know libel isn't a criminal offence, it would be a civil matter, it would be for the School to prove in court that what was said was inaccurate.

Original poster

vinnygal · 20/03/2012 21:03

Thank you all for your comments. Her privacy settings are fine, it was a 'friend' who provided the school with the screenshot of her post! She knows she has been very foolish and it is a hard lesson for her. I have had about 6 meetings with the relevant department about the standard of teaching and have raised concerns about the level of sickness of her teacher and the amount of sub teachers that have been used. I am not the only parent to have complained. I just feel the school could have handled the situation better, perhaps by addressing why she felt so frustrated to post it in the first place. I think it is a lesson to her that in future to keep her opinion to herself!

OP posts:

abbierhodes · 20/03/2012 21:03

Dustinthewind, you can't comment on the results unless you know the class. For all we know the OP's daughter may have told her mum that 'everyone got an E' to save face. It may be that the class are a very low ability group, and a pass is all that's expected of them. You just don't know.
I don't think it's a sign of the times. We didn't have internet when I was at school but if you'd, say, written graffiti insulting the school, then the consequences would have been the same or worse.

OP, I agree with others- be apologetic and make your daughter accept responsibility. This will be a good lesson in discretion for her!

If there really is a problem with the teaching, then go through the proper channels- although, tbh, this will have somewhat weakened your position, as the governors will consider you and your daughter to be troublemaking and may not now take your complaints seriously.

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