Angry parent entered school ranting like a lunatic

17-02-2014 05:46PM

Just because it happened in school, that's no reason to avoid involving the Gardaí. Report her, don't wait for someone else to do it. When the Gardaí contact her, my guess is she'll be quick not to repeat those actions again in the future. As for the board, write a letter to the patron (the archbishop I'm guessing) and inform him of the incident. The patron can dismiss a member from the board if needs be.

CramCycle · 17-02-2014 05:59PM

I would ask for a meeting with the principal to see what is being done, if nothing immediate then inform him you are notifying the Gardai and the department of education immediately. If something is being done, is it enough? Possibly contact any other parents you know just to say you are going to pop in and were wondering is there a general agreement or have other parents already heard/done anything. (Obviously ring ahead and don't barge into a class room :pac:)

Her actions, regardless of why, are not the actions of a responsible adult if they happen as you say.

Don't delay though, the Gardai will investigate but you have to be prepared that witnesses will be required and the teacher in the class room will be the sole reliable witness (no offence to the kids but stories can get muddled very quickly). I imagine the department of education would be smart enough to launch an investigation into it as well if they have been notified.

There is the other issue that you will have to decide on in that, the child, a bully or not, is going to have this (caveat: possibly) loom over his/her head for a long time if a bigger issue is made. If the BOM and the principal remove this mothers access and she apologises to the parents, will this be enough?

evolving_doors · 17-02-2014 07:50PM

CramCycle wrote: »

..... If the BOM and the principal remove this mothers access and she apologises to the parents, will this be enough?

Well there's forgive and forget and all that, also I dont know how far i'd go if I found out my child was being bullied..

.but... looking at the situation on the whole...woman trespasses onto school and enters classroom to threaten kids, also abuses their entrusted position for their own ends...I wouldn't trust her with children again.

Also BOM ratifies child protection policies/ anti_bullying policies which an appointed member then goes and rips up!

DDC1990 · 18-02-2014 10:21AM

To be honest i'd expect the school to have contacted the Gárdaí and the BOM already.

Similar incident happened, with a parent abusing school staff, and the immediate response from the Principal and Vice Principal was to ban that parent from the school and call the Gárdaí.

CramCycle · 18-02-2014 10:46AM

Armelodie wrote: »

Well there's forgive and forget and all that, also I dont know how far i'd go if I found out my child was being bullied..

TBF, my understanding from the OP was that her child was not being bullied but was the bully (the child of the woman who came in).

.but... looking at the situation on the whole...woman trespasses onto school and enters classroom to threaten kids, also abuses their entrusted position for their own ends...I wouldn't trust her with children again.

As parents we will often see and know of things that we don't like, as adults it is our responsibility to act in the best interests of the child. If her child was the accused bully, then this was not the best way to tackle the issue, if her child was the victim, this was still not the correct approach. In fact there is no excuse for her behaviour no matter how she may feel or think.

Felicity1 · 18-02-2014 03:15PM

CramCycle wrote: »

TBF, my understanding from the OP was that her child was not being bullied but was the bully (the child of the woman who came in).

As parents we will often see and know of things that we don't like, as adults it is our responsibility to act in the best interests of the child. If her child was the accused bully, then this was not the best way to tackle the issue, if her child was the victim, this was still not the correct approach. In fact there is no excuse for her behaviour no matter how she may feel or think.

My child is not the bully, just a member of the class.

CramCycle · 18-02-2014 03:29PM

Felicity1 wrote: »

My child is not the bully, just a member of the class.

I thought you said the woman who barged in was the Mother of the alleged bully, I seen your post saying your child was not in any way involved and never meant to imply that.

Felicity1 · 18-02-2014 05:48PM

CramCycle wrote: »

I thought you said the woman who barged in was the Mother of the alleged bully, I seen your post saying your child was not in any way involved and never meant to imply that.

Yes, sorry if it wasn't clear. The mother who barged in is the parent of the bully IMO.

spurious · 18-02-2014 05:59PM

Almost regardless of why the woman entered the school, it's a major safety issue for the school management. I hope the guards were called, or at least informed.

We (second-level school) had an incident a couple of years ago where two women dressed in black ('like ninjas', according to the kids) barged past the porter's desk, ran upstairs and began kicking classroom doors searching for a child who had allegedly 'said something' about one of their children.

I locked my classroom door and took the few I had in my room out of sight of the panel in the door. Still our door was kicked. It was quite frightening listening to the shouting and roaring that was going on. Some of the kids afterwards, some of them quite 'hard' lads, were saying they didn't like it as they wanted to feel safe when they were in school. Initially they saw it as kind of funny, but the more they thought about it the less funny it got.

The guards were called and while the 'ladies' had left the building by the time the squad car arrived, they were paid a visit soon after at their homes.

Taltos · 18-02-2014 06:07PM

The school has a duty of care towards your child.

Suggest you
a) Report it immediately to the gardai, would be better if a number of parents reported it.
b) Contact the department of education, send a registered letter and a duplicate to the principle.
c) Contact the principle and inform him of your actions and ask what steps they are now taking to ensure the safety of your children and has a meeting been called with the board of management.
d) I would also consider contacting a local paper with the actions taken above if you don't get satisfaction, but that would be a last step as once the name of the school is in the paper it is on record for general searches.

At a minimum I would want to see this mother done for trespass; threatening behaviour and probably a range more.

professore · 18-02-2014 06:09PM

In my experience, it's rarely the child of a parent like this who gets bullied.

Suppose her child and her friends were constantly bullying another child for months and then the other child reacts and then the child runs to her mother and accuses the child that reacted of bullying her. I've seen this happen both as a child myself and with my daughters. Girls in particular are skilled at this kind of underhanded backstabbing.

Bullies are mean, pathetic cowardly individuals who only get pleasure from life by making others miserable.

However the mother's reaction was out of order.

byhookorbycrook · 18-02-2014 06:15PM

Worth mentioning that the BOM has a duty of care to the teacher too! NOTHING gives anyone a right to enter a class and scream at pupils and teacher.

muckisluck · 18-02-2014 09:36PM

The schools complaints procedure should be followed. If there is no satisfaction with this then contact the DES- not before. I would be very surprised if the school has not contacted the guards about the incident already.
I wonder under the terms of natural justice can parents expect to be hear what actions have been taken until the incident has been fully investigated and dealt with. We often hear about victims' frustrations because they can't be kept in the loop about what is going on with criminal investigations. Perhaps similar rules apply here. I don't know the answers by the way.

darrengoff · 26-08-2015 12:39PM

* Mod Snip* Please don't drag up old threads.

Ash.J.Williams · 26-08-2015 12:43PM

Change the codes
remove the parent from BOM
Deal with the bullying allegations

my friend · 26-08-2015 12:52PM

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Change the codes
remove the parent from BOM
Deal with the bullying allegations

Your prompt response is under consideration

MarkR · 26-08-2015 12:56PM

I don't suppose there was any resolution to this?

irish_dave_83 · 26-08-2015 01:40PM

Entering the school the way she did could amount to trespassing, but that would be tricky because she is a parent of a pupil there.

I am more concered with her actions upon entry into the class room, which is an issue for the Gardaí, especially as she allegedly made threats to either the teacher or the pupils. You can also notify the HSE of a child protection issue regardless of whether the Garda/school do or not, this could possibly affect her other activities with children depending on how the investigation went.

How to report a concern if you are a parent - http://www.tusla.ie/children-first/how-do-i-report-abuse.

You have already made a complaint to the school, so I suggest involving the Gardaí and the HSE. Hit her from all sides, even if nothing comes of it, she will think twice about doing anything like this again.

byhookorbycrook · 26-08-2015 02:14PM

This issue occurred in 2014, locking thread.

Angry parent entered school ranting like a lunatic

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