DD facing suspension. Please Help.

[VoldemortsNipple]

Sorry if this is drip fed. I have only been informed this evening of this situation and most of my information is coming from DD.

DD is 16 and is in the sixth form attached to the school she has attended since she was 11. Throughout this time she has never been in more trouble than not turning up for band practice. She has represented the school on many occassions and was hoping to be chosen to go to Philadelphia next year on a student exchange programme.

It has transpired that on Wednesday morning a computer virus has attacked the school system. Apparently this virus could have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and could have entered the school computer systems throughout the whole city.

At 10am this morning, dd was removed from lessons and taken to one of the offices and questioned by three senior members of staff. The virus has been traced back to a computer which DD was logged on to. DD admits that she was on this computer but denies that she had anything to do with uploading any malious software. She admits to using Tumblr to show her friend some pictures but says that she had no problem gaining access to the site. She certainly didnt click on any pop up links.

Now I am the first to support the school if they have any concerns and I understand that DD would have to be questioned about this incident as it has been traced back to her computer. However I am seriously concerned in the way my dd has been treated.

She was questioned by the 3 staff members about what she was doing on the computer and she admitted to using Tumblr. They informed her that this wasnt the kind of virus that you get from clicking on something and you would know what you were doing. It sounds like they then changed tactics and asked who else she had given her password to.

The head teacher then began to ask DD if she understood the seriousness of the situation. He told her that the company who provide the computer security want to see action taken against who is responsible. He told DD that this is a serious criminal offence in which she could face 6 months in prison. He said he would have to suspend her for two days to show the company he was taking action. They seemed to come back and forth throughout the day asking her questions.

DD was placed in isolation and was asked to write a statement while they went verify her statement with people she had been with. She was offered to go and get lunch by the teacher she was in isolation with but was frightened to go incase she was accused of asking people to back up her story.

DD was offered nobody to represent her or offer pastorial support. I dont mean a lawyer, but at the very least she should have been offered a teacher to give her some support and ask questions on her behaif. It wasnt until 3pm that they phoned her dad to inform him of the situation and tell him she was facing a two day suspension.

wtf they have actually suspended her?! she didnt do anything, if it uploaded accidentaly (highly likely) that is NOT her fault! i cannot believe the way the school spoke to her and the threats they may! totally outrageous.

i would be involving the governors and the lea if you have.

OMG!! Your daughter is being used as a scapegoat because their anti virus software was not fit for the job.

Your daughters crime was using an unauthorised website in lesson time - hardly a suspendable offence.

Something is not right here - not least making you wait until Thursday (pretty much a WHOLE week since the event) for a meeting. You need to go tomorrow and demand a meeting. The school have been very underhand and I would be suspicious about what may not be available by Thursday in your daughters defence.

You need to go in before she completes her suspension - it wont be easy to undo from her school record once its completed.

Something very very fishy with this! It smacks of some underhand dealings.

This is absolutely ridiculous. A suspension is a serious matter (or it should be). The school owe you a full explanation, not least because your DD will be missing 2 days of teaching time, and I'd want there to be a bloody good reason why this was the case.
It sounds like they've handled the whole thing incredibly badly-I don't see why you should have to wait till Thursday for an explanation. Totally crap.

Tumbler is something they use almost as commonly as Facebook. They all have it, certainly my DDs do, and have had for a long time to my knowledge (if they don't let us see what they are doing on their computer when I go in, it gets confiscated). We have had problems with viruses when they have accessed sites to download music and American TV shows, and those sites are most certainly dodgy, but not Tumbler. I would expect a school to have cottoned on to it's existence and to have blocked it. They should be keeping up with what sites they are using anyway as they can be posting things into the public domain that damage the reputation of the school, and encourage online bullying, apart from anything else. We had those issues with Formspring, another site that became a bit of a trend. It is an issue for us as parents too. Tumbler seems if anything to be a more supportive thing, it's about posting images, mainly fashion and bands, and if you put together a good portfolio then people follow you, or at least that is how DD uses it. I suppose you could even argue at a stretch it is educational, in that it has an artistic element .

I agree with OohMrDarcey and Edam that this sounds to be more to do with the IT illiteracy of the teachers who decided on this actions and their being intimidated by the IT company who may well be covering their own backs. It raises the question of why the welfare of the child wasn't made the priority in this process instead of her becoming a scapegoat in what was basically grown up politics. Personally I would be going into school and asking them to clarify exactly what proof they have of what your daughter has done, and if it is no more than having gone on Tumbler and perhaps not even been aware that a virus had downloaded itself, ask for justification for the treatment she received and two days exclusion. Is that the standard punishment for going on sites that aren't educational? As I said before all I did was upload something to Oxford University's intranet for a nasty Trojan to get into my computer, I didn't even click on anything. Do these IT bods really know what the strategies of the latest hackers are?

I also think that the school owe you more than a five minute phone call. I know that when DCs are excluded at my DDs school the parents are automatically called in for an interview with the Deputy Head and Head of Year, with the child, on the first day of exclusion so everyone is clear about why, and what needs to happen to improve the behaviour of the DC concerned, and the consequences if it hasn't. Does this school have ANY strategy for delivering pastoral care to their pupils?

Exactly what CopthallResident said.

That is outrageous - I'd be raising merry hell. There are viruses on the internet, people click on them by accident - that is what sodding virus checkers are for! If school won't budge, go for governors and LEA if need be. And waiting until Thursday - sounds like they want it done and dusted before you have a chance to complain, which is doubly outrageous.

So, I take it your dd wasn't at school today? So that's already one day of the exclusion?
I would turn up there tomorrow with her in tow and demand to see someone first thing, with a view to her returning to classes once you've finished.

Another one livid on your behalf and I'm fucked if I'd be waiting till Thursday for this meeting...

Have you had a letter confirming the fixed term exclusion of 2 days?
If you have not had that letter then there is no fixed term exclusion, without it there is no legal basis for the exclusion. There is however no set time for the letter to be given to you only that it is done "without delay". There is no reason why the school could not by now have got the letter delivered to you and if they just give you the letter on Thursday, that is not good at all.
You say that the reason now given for the exclusion is for downloading a virus but originally you were talking about it being for being on Tumblr on the school IT system. The school need to have carried out a proper investigation to be able to confirm the fixed term exclusion. They can clearly demonstrate that for being on Tumblr, by your daughter's admission and a very easy look at the computer log. Whilst I am no expert on computers I suspect it is very much more difficult to prove, on the balance of probability, that the virus was downloaded by your daughter, even if it was via the computer terminal that she was using. So we are back again to what the exclusion letter says as to whether the exclusion is provable.
Part of the exclusion code talks about the need for the exclusion to be fair and proportionate. Part of that is around, what does the behaviour policy and ICT policy of the school say in relation to the crime committed but the other part of fair is that the school is being even-handed in that the punishment handed down to your daughter is equivalent to what happens to others who similarly transgress. If you have evidence to show that has no happened or can show that the school has made no attempt to seal the vast gaping hole in their "secure" system then it is questionable whether it is an appropriate punishment, as your daughter has been made a scapegoat.
The other thing that you should be aware of for your meeting on Thursday is that under the current exclusion code any exclusion of less than 5 days cannot be reinstated by the governing body, they can only put on record on the pupil's file, their findings.

What exactly did your daughter say she did? If she has been downloading from dodgy music sites at home and took in a USB stick to upload pictures at school that is slightly different to clicking on a link. Either way a 2 day suspension is excessive but clicking a link means the school is blaming a child for their inadequate software and taking in a corrupted USB is slightly more culpable.

You might want to look at just what is on your daughter's laptop. If she doesn't have it already you could download and run malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.org/ If that shows nothing nasty you're in a stronger position to argue that whatever happened was due to their inadequate protection.

I would insist the school supplied me with a copy of the statement they had obtaned from my child, copies of any other statements they have and of the evidence that this was not a simple accident. I'd tell them that I wanted this evidence examined by my own IT expert and an apology from them if this was shown to be accidental. I'd ask why they didn't block tumblr if they considered it to have no educational value. I would not have stopped at a 5 minute conversation with the head of 6th form but would have insisted on speaking to the head.

Has she gone into school and if not has she been given work to do? If she hasn't then they may be unlawfully denying her the right to an education. You should have been given written notice if this is a state school. Te statutory guidance is here media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/the%20school%20discipline%20pupil%20exclusions%20and%20reviewsengland%20regulations%202012.pdf

Gobsmacked by this ,furious on your behalf ,sad for daughter .

Sounds like your daughter is being made a scapegoat for someone's error ,slackness .

The school will close ranks of course ,and that includes the governors .
Don't let it put you off persuing justice .
Take someone with you to your meeting ( someone with knowledge of the law ) and ask for someone to take minutes .

Probably your only really effective course of action is the local press .

Schools are such bullies !

I wouldn't be accepting this at all.

But if you are serious about dealing with it, a few questions:

• is this state or private?
• have you been given written notice of their decision, with a reason, and if so, what does it say?
• what is the name of the virus in question

They simply cannot suspend her for accidentally infecting the school computer with a virus (or not, it seems, because it sounds like the virus was quarantined). That is no more reasonable than suspending her for giving someone a cold.

They would need to detail specific offences, e.g. deliberately bypassing the school security systems/blocking software, or whatever, with reference to the school's disciplinary policy, AUP, and so on.

It's quite possible that the alleged 'virus' is nothing of the kind of course.

The ignorance displayed is almost as bad as the suspension.

make a fuss. Contact you MP- I know it sounds radical but they are there as public servants and also contact the director of education for your council, copying in you MP on it

Personally, I'd object most to the mention of a prison sentence. If your dd was actually suspected of having committed a serious crime then the parents and perhaps the police should have been called in at once.

If not, they should not have said such an intimidating thing to her.

I am shocked by the schools behaviour, don't take this lying down!

OP I know our advice ( MP, legal etc ) may sound like overkill but you really need to be far more prepared than you can imagine .
The school have strength in numbers and will have a culture of expecting people to do what they say /obey them without giving explanations .
And they have already shown their colours in the way they have handled this incident .

I am not suggesting that you go in guns blazing ,just the opposite - be calm ,collected ,have questions you want answers to and a clear idea of what you want out of the meeting ( if it's simply for your daughters school record to be unblemished and for her to go on school trip you may have different approach in mind ).
But don't go alone to meeting ,if you can't take a semi or full professional take a friend . And get minutes taken - if school won't , get your friend to make notes and don't let her/him be intimidated or afraid of asking for clarification or for speakers to slow down/repeat themselves .

Please let us know how things are - don't worry if you chose to ignore our advice ,we're still on your side !

I'd be asking these questions:

1. What virus is it?
2. How was this virus supposed to have been introduced to the PC?
3. What evidence is there that it was not introduced until 11:53?

Have you had any luck getting in touch with the school yet?

certainly shouldn't go in guns blazing. However when they have explained why they wish to suspend your daughter you calmly question why they re punishing her so severely for an accident that wasn't her fault and ask why other people committing the same offence - accessing a site without permission - are not being punished equally harshly. Then point out that they slandered your daughter by questioning her as if she had committed a crime and are now either proposing to unlawfully deprive her of education or have already done so. I would record the conversation.

Good luck with the meeting today

Sounds a good plan alreadytaken - I too would suggest recording the conversation .
It's today isn't it that the OP has a meeting .

Hope she's ok and that she's not found out another side of the story revealing stuff about her DD that she wasn't previously aware of .

Hi everybody. Well we had our meeting today and it went pretty much as I expected. I didn't have anybody apart from DD with me. I don't know anybody with experience in law and anybody else who might have been usful could not get time off work at such short notice.

I did however go prepared and I thank you for all the advice and support as it really helped build my case. I wrote a letter for the governers highlighting my concerns. I then shared all my concerns with the teacher. I honestly don't think she expected me to be so prepared.

The exclusion which was on Tuesday and Wednesday this week was for the following reason. DD had booked out a laptop and used it to access websites which were not for educational purposes. And as a result of DDs actions, a virus was able to find its way onto the network. They say that following the investigation they do not believe that DD uploaded the virus deliberately. (this would have been a permanent exclusion)

As expected, the teacher denied that DD wasn't given pastoral support and said that was her role on the day. I made it quite clear that DD did not feel supported and should have been able to choose a staff member to support her.

Posted too soon, hold on.

So the two day suspension was for accessing non educational sites ?

Is this sanction mentioned in school policies ? Been implemented before ?
Seems draconian .

Oh, well, good and bad I suppose.

Bad in that they don't seem to realise or care that your dd was upset. I knew they would say that about pastoral care, they always do . Good that they know she didn't do anything on purpose.

I suppose if the punishment for "accessing banned websites" is suspension, their punishment is correct. However, I think you should ask to to see their policy on that. I would also ask for written confirmation that they believe it was an accident, and that the suspension was for inadvertently allowing a virus entry. Just so you have written evidence if this comes back to bite you.

I would also ask for written confirmation that this suspension will not go on her permanent record and will not feature in any university applications or school references. Which shouldn't be a problem for them, if they are sure it was all an accident.

If the e policy of the school says that laptops booked out can only be used to access websites that are educational then the pupil has broken the policy. The key issue is whether the school's behaviour policy or e policy says what the punishment will be for accessing inappropriate sites.
If there is no indication, then the exclusion regulations allow a wide latitude of potential punishments. Whilst many may consider the punishment draconian in relation to the crime, I think that the head teacher is perfectly within their rights to make such a fixed term exclusion. There is absolutely nothing in the exclusion regulations that says the exclusion is not appropriate.