nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

How to approach teacher about my brother's non-uniform coat being seized?

Jeremy Sproket

My brother cycled to school with a yellow light coat covered all over in reflective (yellow/silver style one).

There is a school jacket which the rules say must be worn in conjunction with the uniform and in school and on school grounds. If anyone is caught with any other jacket on school grounds, the jacket will be seized and must be collected by a parent or guardian after an apology from the pupil to the teacher who took it.

The school jacket is a thick insulated one and is (in Jack's words) a very, very very deep blue with a small reflective strip on the top on the nape of the neck.

My brother cycles to school and it's never been an issue, but recently he was accosted by a teacher and told to surrender his jacket as it wasn't authorised.

My brother is 18. My parents are in Sweden on family business for a number of months and the school said that he needs someone to act in "loco parentus" ?? They are refusing to speak to him or let him have the jacket back but they'll strangely speak to his 28 year old sister (ie, me).

I have to meet the teacher who took the coat in one of the coming afternoons, in the mean time, my bro doesn't have his usual hi vis coat.

Any suggestions how to approach, I don't think he should apologise. Glad I did my secondary education in another country. It didn't matter if kids had green hair or pink trousers.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926982#Comment_117926982

What kind of $hithole did you grow up in?

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925803#Comment_117925803

It's trying to teach kids, at a very rudimentary level, to show respect and to obey even the simplest of rules without throwing a hissyfit.

HildaOgdenx

I suggest taking out the salt cellar, and taking a large pinch of salt, before taking this thread too seriously 😉

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926916#Comment_117926916

Again, a common thread in Ireland. Blow the whistle and you’re the trouble maker. It happens in many aspects of life here and is only very recently coming to the fore.

If you look at the school system here and the kinds of behaviours a large aspect of it continues to instil, it’s not surprising that we have some of the issues we have had.

Nobody should ever feel they’ll be victimised for making a very reasonable complaint.

Tork

Makes a change from a beard I suppose https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058179723/school-uniform-policies-of-irish-schools

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926982#Comment_117926982

Those cousins sound absolutely monstrous.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925850#Comment_117925850

Whatever the consequences, theft shouldn’t be the result...

id call the Gardai, his property has been stolen...

following that I’d write a letter / email to the department of education. Advising that any further attempt to bully him or force him to part with his own personal property will lead to you consulting a solicitor.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925692#Comment_117925692

Some people just help but make a bad situation worse! First of all it is not theft and the Garda will have no interest.

OP take path of least resistance. Turn, apologize for breaking the rules and collect the jackets. Then ask the teacher to explain the schools policy on wearing such vest while traveling to school, where they should be remove, stored etc since it is a health and safety issue. And since they have decided you are the responsible adult you are taking your responsibility seriously and need a written copy of the guidelines and perhaps a meeting with the principal or should you talk to the department of education or the press… since obviously safety is very important to you….

I expect an accommodation will be found.

freshpopcorn

OP Purchase a wig and put on some of your mother make and put on one of her dresses/high healers.

Then just go to the school and say I'm Mrs XXXX and I need my sons coat back. If they make an issue of it just say I've a bit of work done.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927067#Comment_117927067

There could well be a provision for it in law alright, other countries do have them if you Google it, but that might not hold up when it wasn't returned at the end of the day, it's a safety item and/or the student is over 18.

It'll never go far enough for us to find out though, purely academic

I think you'll end up having to apologise if you play it straight, if you really don't want to, then go passive aggressive, waste as much time of theirs as possible until they give it back

davetherave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058179723/school-uniform-policies-of-irish-schools

Sounds like your brother needs to start going to school in Sweden if it is so great there.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925702#Comment_117925702

The majority of teachers are normal human being however if this particular one is of the "power trip" kind id tend to agree with @maestroamado . Once you mention safety the Teacher will relent. Nobody wants to be partially accountable for any sort of accident

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927076#Comment_117927076

That was kindof joke.... what i meant by "jail time" if there was an incident on bike and the fact that hi-vis was in the teachers drawers....

The guy with the salt may well be quicker on this one.... also Jeremy Sproket is a girl....

topmanamillion

This thread makes me thankful im not a teacher. A lot of people still haven't gotten over their teachers giving them a bollocking for being a little prick 30 years ago!

For what its worth it has to be zero tolerance with any deviation from uniforms. If teenagers get any sense they can take the p1ss they will.

Also this lad could have just worn a hi vis vest or a velcro strap and popped it into his bag when he arrived but just decided to wear a jacket knowing the rules. The school have given him a valuable lesson in adulthood.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927137#Comment_117927137

An 18 year old is not a kid. A teacher on a power trip deserves no respect

The people trying to say "it's not theft" cannot actually explain why it's not.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927391#Comment_117927391

It's not theft because the kid handed the coat over, as he had agreed to.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927408#Comment_117927408

Handing something over because it was demanded doesn't stop it being theft. If it did, mugging would be legal.

A one sided "agreement" would fail any basis of being a legal contract so thats no defence.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927411#Comment_117927411

He's an adult. He could have just refused to hand it over.

How was it a one sided agreement?

Peregrinus

It's not theft. Schools are in loco parentis with respect to their students, which means that a school has the same authority over a student as a parent has over a child. This authority extends to the confiscation of contraband. This authority doesn't magically end when a student turns 18; the school derives its authority from the fact that he's a student, not from the fact that he's a child, so his 18th birthday is of no particular relevance.

(Also worth adding that it's largely irrelevant whether, or when, the schools uniform policy was signed by the student, or by his parents/family. The purpose of getting students/parents to sign these things is not so that they will become bound by them — they are bound by them anyway — but to avoid any arguments about whether they knew what the policy was.)

If the student doesn't wish to be subject to the school's authority or its uniform policy, he can withdraw from the school. As an adult, he's perfectly entitled to do that. He doesn't require the agreement or permission of his family.

It's also not theft for an independent reason. Even if the school were not entitled to confiscate the non-uniform coat, the confiscation would only be theft if the school intended to deprive the student his coat. We know that the school doesn't have this intention, because it has a process in place for returning the coat.

The school may be handling this matter badly, but what they have done is not theft. The problem is unlikely to be resolved satisfactorily by dramatizing it in this way.

Sky King

I'm LOLing at all the would-be Rosa Parks types in the thread. FFS!

The school has a clear uniform policy. The item of clothing is contrary to it, so it was seized. The fact that this kid was singled out to have his jacket seized whereas the captain of the hurling team wouldn't is another story (and a good life lesson by the way).

Apologise, retrieve the jacket. If you still have concerns about the policy, bring them up with the school and ask them to be changed.

Personally? I wouldn't bother my hole, just tell him to do a good leaving, go and get some qualification in someething he is good at, get a good job and go off and enjoy his life, basking in the satisfaction that they are stuck there forever in a sh1t job, having to deal with petty nonsense like confiscating jackets from people.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927414#Comment_117927414

There is zero benefit to the student from it.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925725#Comment_117925725

apologize for what?

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925704#Comment_117925704

Really. Would you grow up.

Tombo2001

OP - with apologies for stating what might be obvious to some, but by posting in after hours you are guaranteeing the most bullcrap nonsense answers.

Maybe thats what you want. I never know with boards. I see such crap being spouted on this forum that I would genuinely wonder if boards has a team of people starting up these threads to keep the numbers up.

There is a parenting forum if you genuinely want advice on this.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117927384#Comment_117927384

i recall a thread about a year ago where someone was saying their local school were so strict about uniformsm students cycling in weren't even allowed cycle onto the grounds wearing waterproof leggings. a zero tolerance approach on something like this ends up making a mockery out of the rules.

lawred2

seriously - if he'd come in with some nike emblazoned padded jacket or something but reflective safety gear for cycling?

either the teacher is a loon or there's some missing context

Darc19

Forget about going to the gardai. That's ott.

Give the school one opportunity.

Hand the coat back by end of today or have the issue highlighted in the media and and official complaint made about the teacher in question.

And say that no further correspondence will be entered into.

Remind them that your brother is 18 and is an adult in the eyes of the law and ask if they really want to open a can of worms on their archaic and legally unenforceable rules that effectively prohibit attendees wearing safety clothing whilst cycling to school

magicbastarder

all these suggestions about threatening the school with social media, etc., are a little bit 'escalatey'. he still has to go to school there and sounds like he's a sixth year so probably doesn't want to sour relations.

just go in, explain that it's safety equipment, ask them how do they think it looks if they're preventing students from wearing cycling safety equipment, yadda yadda.

you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Peregrinus

They are not preventing him from wearing the yellow coat when cycling. The OP is quite clear that the uniform policy only applies in school and on school grounds.

He can wear what he likes when cycling to school. But, when he gets to school, he needs to wear the uniform coat.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058209997/how-to-approach-teacher-about-my-brothers-non-uniform-coat-being-seized

"before we get to rules that were allegedly broken, please return his hi viz jacket as it's a safety issue not a uniform issue"