Recording a meeting

[Sunshineandpool]

I have seen advice on here to record meetings with school for your own records. I was planning on doing this at a meeting for my DD as I want some agreements on key points as different people in the school say/do different things.

Anyway I was having a look at the schools policies and came across a new one about 'vexatious complainants' and one of the criteria for being one is if you record a meeting!

Any advice?

That isn’t correct. A vexatious complainant is someone who continues to complain about the same thing, even after it has already been addressed via the school’s complaints policy.

In most cases, meetings can be recorded, only if everyone in the meeting agrees, and a reason is given for recording. That’s what it says in our policy anyway.

Personally, I wouldn't record without permission. A contemporaneous note is fine as a record of what was said/agreed. Write it during or just after the meeting. Email a copy to the school afterwards and ask them to confirm they agree. If you struggle to take notes for any reason, that would be grounds for permission to record, take notes after, and then delete the recording.

I know, I find it bizarre that recording a meeting makes you a 'vexatious complainant' according to their policy! Just makes me feel they have a problem with parents recording meetings and this is a clumsy attempt to stop it.

My experience of the complaints procedure is they make it as hard as possible to follow so you just give up! So I'd be surprised if anyone got to the end of the complaints policy!

Thr issue I have is I will send an email as to what was said and then the headteacher will just argue with everything that I have said. She will make up that she said all sorts of things. For my own sanity I would like to listen back. I do have an issue with memory and processing fast enough to make notes and take part in the meeting at the same time due to medication and being autistic.

So inform them in advance you would like to record and make clear that you are requesting this as a reasonable adjustment because of a disability. I think they would be unlikely to say no as it would open them up to a whole new area of complaints....