Equality Tribunal Decisions on cases against schools

SerialComplaint

Some interesting rulings on claims against schools in the latest release from the Equality Authority

DEC-S2012-003 complaint by a separated father about school not communicating with him about absences - Not upheld

DEC-S2012-012 Complaint by parents of 6th class child with Down Syndrome, whose father is his SNA, about discrimination by substitute teacher, who happens to be the father of the substituted teacher - not upheld - case officer is the Director of the Tribunal Niall McCutcheon, and not one of the Equality Officers that usually investigate.

DEC-S2012-026- Complaint by parent of child with dyspraxia who was not allowed to enroll in the school where his mother teaches Complaint upheld - €6k compensation payment against school

DEC-S2012-028- Complaint by teenage with anxiety Principal investigated complaint against his wife (also a teacher) - Not upheld, as disability not confirmed by medical diagnosis


Lots of inter-family strife going on in these schools it seems!

TheDriver

interesting alright. I like your username, very fitting for the post

byhookorbycrook

The parent as SNA to their own child was a bad choice, it's hard for someone so emotionally invested to try and be professionally detatched.

As regards the case of the child with dyspraxia"
The Principal's letter referred to her son's disability and the requirement for resource teaching and special needs assistance. She was later told by the BOM that the letter was written by the Principal in his personal capacity."

Sound like the BOM and principal will not be top of each other's Christmas card lists for a bit.

Miss Lockhart

Have you an opinon on all these cases OP? I can never understand people posting a story/stories and not bothering to offer their own opinion.

SerialComplaint

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Have you an opinon on all these cases OP? I can never understand people posting a story/stories and not bothering to offer their own opinion.

I was a bit tight for time over lunch today, so I just wanted to get the links out, and I planned to comment later on. So here goes;

SerialComplaint wrote: »

DEC-S2012-003 complaint by a separated father about school not communicating with him about absences - Not upheld

There is a lesson here for schools about communicating with parents - both parents - particularly in cases of separation. Email is one obvious solution to this - just get the two email addresses and all communications go to both parents, who can then sort stuff out between them.

SerialComplaint wrote: »

DEC-S2012-012 Complaint by parents of 6th class child with Down Syndrome, whose father is his SNA, about discrimination by substitute teacher, who happens to be the father of the substituted teacher - not upheld - case officer is the Director of the Tribunal Niall McCutcheon, and not one of the Equality Officers that usually investigate.

A number of strange features in this case. I've never seen an Equality Tribunal decision directly adjudicated by the Director of the Tribunal. I don't review every Tribunal ruling, but I do review a fair number of them. It is always noted in the preamble that the Director delegated his functions to Joe Bloggs, Equality Officer or whoever. I've no idea if this is significant to this case or not.

Like byhookorbycrook, it seems very strange that a parent would be the SNA. This would surely raise a number of conflicts. It also seems very, very strange that the best substitute teacher is the father of the substituted teacher - coincidence or ????

I don't like the sound of the dealings between the teachers and the SNA. It looks like they don't get the role of the SNA. The SNA is there to provide personal care, not to teach. Students with disabilities are entitled to be taught by professional teachers, not by care assistants. Teachers are there to teach, regardless of whether an SNA is present or not.

SerialComplaint wrote: »

DEC-S2012-026- Complaint by parent of child with dyspraxia who was not allowed to enroll in the school where his mother teaches Complaint upheld - €6k compensation payment against school

The principal appeared to make his decision based on his personal knowledge of the teacher's child - big mistake. And now the school is €6k down.

SerialComplaint wrote: »

DEC-S2012-028- Complaint by teenage with anxiety Principal investigated complaint against his wife (also a teacher) - Not upheld, as disability not confirmed by medical diagnosis

The requirement for diagnosis will be a problem for younger students with disabilities. Some conditions can't be diagnosed until 8-10 - autism, dyslexia for example. Does this ruling mean that students with those conditions have no protection under Equal Status Acts until they get their diagnosis?

bdoo

There's a lot of reading there, all very interesting. Every step you take is another mine waiting to explode if you are any way slack.

And rightly so but a bit of vexatious stuff too..

byhookorbycrook

But anxiety is not a diagnosis.It's a symptom.Can't see how a recognised disabilty would suffer due to a judgement about something that is not a disability.There were no professional assessments/reports. A letter from a gp saying a child got meds once when younger is not what I'd call in any way conclusive. i'd imagine there are hundreds of anxious almost junior infants-and parents all over the country right now.

SerialComplaint

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

But anxiety is not a diagnosis.It's a symptom.Can't see how a recognised disabilty would suffer due to a judgement about something that is not a disability.There were no professional assessments/reports. A letter from a gp saying a child got meds once when younger is not what I'd call in any way conclusive. i'd imagine there are hundreds of anxious almost junior infants-and parents all over the country right now.

My point was not about that particular judgement/condition of anxiety vs depression. My point was that a requirement for a formal diagnosis before providing protection under Equal Status Acts discriminates against younger students with disabilities, as some conditions cannot be diagnosed until a child is older.

byhookorbycrook

Both dyslexia and ASD can/have been diagnosed at very early ages, though in the case of dyslexia, many ed. psychologists prefer to wait until the child is 8.