How’s this for an Irish response to a serious situation?

Picture the scenario:

Pupil in 2nd year …. in class ….  teacher comes behind him …. pulls the chair away and kicks the pupil squarely in the backside.

Parents get a phone call from another anxious parent that evening about the incident.

Her child had come home extremely upset at what he had witnessed.

Parents knew nothing about the incident because the pupil in question had said nothing.

One parent was so incensed by it that he wanted to go to the Gardaí immediately and get them to sort it.

Common sense directed that the school be allowed an opportunity to deal with the matter.

A letter was written, addressed to the Principal and the Board of Management jointly, detailing what had happened, requesting that the matter be investigated and dealt with as a matter of urgency.

It was also requested that the pupil would be facilitated in another class until the matter was resolved.

Pupil was, initially, in another class but has now been returned to the class of the teacher involved.

When did this incident occur? ……….. wait for it …. early 2007 …. over a year and a half ago!

What has been done?

NOTHING! ………… Parents have verbally asked for updates.

Parents have also asked for a written reply (as was requested in the original letter to the Principal and the BOM).

Still nothing!

The school have been extremely negligent here.

Every school is obliged to have a Child Protection Policy in place.

Every school is obliged to have a DLP (Designated Liaison Person) who initiates the Child Protection Procedure if/when necessary.

Status Quo remains:

• The teacher is still teaching
• The incident has not been investigated
• The complaint letter hasn’t been formally acknowledged

Basically ……………. nothing was done!

So a year and a half later …. having waited for the school to take a common sense approach and deal with the incident …. with no results …. the parents are now considering reporting the issue to the Gardaí and letting them formally investigate it.

Why am I writing about this?

Two reasons ….

1. As a Principal I am apalled that a school would try to fob off and let time go by on a serious complaint/issue and hope that everyone will forget about it.
2. The pupil in question is my nephew. I was the one who advised the parents to give the school a chance to sort it. The Gardaí were to be a last resort. The last resort has arrived. And I fully support their decision to take that route.

A serious incident, brought to light by another parent and perpetrated by a teacher who has had other ‘incidents’ like this attributed to him and that a school chooses to ignore is shameful.

I am ashamed that fellow professional would do such a thing!!

If you're new here, you may like to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!